Broken Soul
by The Author Haru
Summary: After Maka is injured on a well-deserved vacation, Stein is forced to call in an old friend know as the Black Witch. But is the price of her healing magic too high for Soul to pay? But what other choice is there if not giving her what she wants will mean Maka's death? ON HIATUS
1. Beginning

**The Author Haru: Hello ladies and gentlemen, weapons and meisters, otakus and fangirls/boys! The Author Haru here! So I've been meaning to write a SoMa fanfiction for a while now and I finally got around to it.**

**Soul: *mutters* Took you long enough.**

**Maka: Soul, be nice.**

**Soul: Che.**

**Maka: Makaaaaa…**

**Soul: Shit! I'm sorry Maka!**

**Maka: CHOP!**

**Haru: Maka, Stop hitting your partner!**

**Maka: Sorry Haru.**

**Haru: *sigh* Well, while Maka and I take care of the indent in Soul's head, feel free to start reading!**

~Maka's Point of View~

I woke in the morning up to a quiet home, which was just the problem. "Quiet" was something that the Albarn household never was. Little did I know at the time that it would be just as quiet for a long while. I blinked my eyes open and tried to wake myself up just before my father's sudden shouts did the job for me.

"What the hell, Kami!" my father yelled, making me jump under my warm pink blanket. "Why would you leave me like this? Why would you leave Maka like this?!"

I scowled, letting the words Spirit was shouting to my mother sink in. My father was, despite having the title "Death Scythe", a moron. I hated him for cheating on my mom, and when my mother announced that she was going to divorce him, I'd celebrated with her. They'd been arguing for so long now. I was even at court when they were officially divorced, but in the process I got caught in the crossfire as they fought for custody over me. Now that it was officially my mother who would legally be taking care of me, she'd been acting strange. But now, the very next morning, my father was yelling about her…leaving?

Panic started rising in me. My father was yelling about my mother _leaving_. This was the very same woman who had custody over me. She wouldn't leave. She couldn't. Mama wasn't someone to walk out on things when the situation wasn't favorable. But maybe he was just shouting at her for divorcing him?

However...she had said some things that weren't normal, at least for her. She had even made me promise something strange before I went to sleep last night.

_I walked into the kitchen, dreading the possibility of my dad being there. Not that he could be. This was my mother's apartment. Well, our apartment. I let out a sigh of relief to find only my mom at the table. She was sitting and staring at some papers sitting on the table. She looked just about ready to cry._

_"Mama?" I asked. _

_She obviously hadn't heard me enter, because she jumped at my voice. But she immediately masked whatever sadness she was feeling with a fake smile._

_"Hey, baby," she said quietly. "What are you doing up?"_

_I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Mama, it's only ten-thirty. And it's a weekend. Plus, I could ask you the same question."_

_Mama shook her head. "Sweetheart, go to bed," Kami whispered gently._

_"Mama?" I asked._

_"Hm?"_

_"Are you alright?" I whispered._

_I was expecting a laugh and a shrug, a reassuring pat on the shoulder, anything that showed my mama's strength and resistance to stress. Kami was a three-star scythe meister that made my no-good, idiot Papa into the Death Scythe he was. With no effort on his part either. She was the strongest person I knew. She wasn't bothered by anything._

_Or, that's what I thought before she scowled angrily. "Maka, Don't worry about it," she snapped. "Just go to bed like you've been told."_

_"Um…C-can you tuck me in first?" I mumbled._

_"Maka. Go. To. Bed," she growled, turning back to her papers. "You're too old to be tucked in, much less to ask to be tucked in."_

_"Please come tuck me in. Eleven isn't that old," I begged. "You're starting to worry me."_

_Mama smiled sweetly at me. "Maka, honey, please go to sleep." She either didn't hear my second statement or was ignoring it completely. I thought it was the latter._

_"Mama," I pleaded, "please?" I was desperately trying to rouse her from this state she was in. This wasn't my mother. This wasn't like her. Her moods didn't change this quickly. And she always told me about it when she was upset. We were practically best friends._

_She finally sighed in defeat. "Alright Maka."_

_We walked to my room solemnly, silently. When we arrived at my door, Mama gave my shoulder a small shove, telling me to go to my bed faster so she could leave. She had work to do before tomorrow, I guessed. I got into the bed and she tucked me in quickly, her movements jerky._

_"Mama?" I asked as she was walking out of the room. "Are you ok?"_

_She stopped and turned to me, her eyes suddenly back to their usual alertness. A smile graced her lips and I started to see my mother again. _

_"I'm sorry Maka, honey," the meister replied quietly. "I'm just tired and kinda stressed. Divorce does that to you, I guess."_

_I nodded. "Alright, Mama." I smiled. "You should go to bed. You have bags under your eyes and you've been getting gray hairs. Makes you look old."_

_My mother came to my bedside and leaned over to kiss my forehead. "Maka..." she began, seemingly unsure of what to say, "remember to give your dad a good talking-to if he ever cheats on another woman, okay?"_

_"Of course I will Mamma! But only if I like the woman," I replied stubbornly._

_This made Mamma chuckle and lean back down to kiss my cheek. "Also, Maka, make-make sure that you find some way to forgive him, alright?"_

_The lack of sleep was definitely getting to her. This thought was clearly emphasized on my face, as my eyes widened and my jaw dropped._

_Mama chuckled. "Maka, he's your father and you're going to need him when I'm not..." she audibly gulped, "when I'm not around. If you don't go to him, then he'll be coming to you anyways. Just...promise me you'll let him in at some point."_

_I raised a brow in suspicious confusion but nodded anyway. This seemed to raise Mama's spirits and we said our goodnights._

I was out of bed and in the living room in moments, heart pounding harder than I thought possible. I found my father there, sobbing on the floor with a letter in his hand. I ran up to him and snatched the paper from him and immediately recognized the handwriting as my mother's.

It read:

_Dear Maka,_

_I'm sorry that I'm not brave enough to tell you this in person, but I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back. I want to travel to the places I know you love to read about. I want to travel the world. I love you no matter what, my little angel. I'll return to you once I have traveled around the globe. I'm sure that I'll have lots of exciting things to tell you about when I get back! Take care of things for me. XOXOXOXOXO_

_Love, Mamma_

_P.S. Maka, honey, keep your promise to me, alright?_

By the time I had finished reading the letter, tears were streaming down my face. My mother had left me-me, her only daughter-to face what I assumed would end up being a good portion of the rest of my life alone. Well, alone with my Papa. I shuddered a little at the thought.

I guess I had been standing still, just staring at the short letter for quite some time. I knew this because my lousy father had managed to compose himself in that timespan. And knowing my father, it wasn't an easy task to have completed.

"Maka..." he whispered. "Are you okay?"

A sob racked through my body and he pulled me to him. I let my father hold me as his shirt dampened with the tears that leaked from my eyes without hesitation. I would've fought back, I would've screamed at him and kicked and hit him but all the energy was drained from my body. I felt like I couldn't move, as if I'd been paralyzed.

My mother was gone and my father was still here. Unfortunately for me, this was the exact opposite of what I wanted. But the world didn't revolve around my wishes. If it did, I would have my mother back, be born to a proper father, have an amazing partner, be the greatest meister in history, and my house would be filled to the brim with books.

After walking up and down the stairs of the DWMA since I was a small child, I was used to it by now. The other first-years at the entrance ceremony weren't, however. I was surrounded by the sweaty, panting students that were also attending the orientation day.

I took a deep breath and turned around at the top of the stairs, smiling at the view of Death City. I noticed a few other students spot me and follow my example. Almost all of them gasped in astonishment and others soon joined in. They started to call friends over to see the city as well.

When my blue-haired childhood friend shouted "HEEHAW! Be sure to remember me! I am the famous Black*Star!" from one of the middle spikes of the school's center skull, most of the students only turned for a moment and went right back to gaping at the view. There were a few, however, who stopped taking in the view to look at Black*Star in confusion.

I didn't know if it was that he was a male or if it was because he had recently started saying he was going to surpass the gods, but Black*Star was especially crazy today. He hadn't been this obnoxious until a few weeks ago, I realized, which was when I'd dragged him to the library and he'd seen some books on some kind of mythology. Well, that and something about boosting confidence or body building. Probably both, because his volume and the amount of irritation he caused me had both skyrocketed.

He continued to rant for a few more moments until a girl with dark hair in a long ponytail with deep indigo eyes started clapping somewhere below the spike. The small crowd of people looking at my friend like he was crazy, which he very well may have been, dispersed and went to go find a partner or explore the school and whatnot.

Black*Star noticed the girl and jumped down suddenly, startling her. The moron decided to walk over to her and just stare. She got him to stop by talking nervously to him. I wasn't within earshot, which meant that, seeing as it was Black*Star who was speaking, I was very, very far. However, I saw Black*Star point out his "Meister" pin and I assumed that the girl was a weapon. Eventually I skipped energetically to the base of the skull to join them.

"Good morning, Black*Star!" I said loudly as they were shaking hands. "Found a weapon, I see."

My best friend turned to me and his gaze softened considerably. "Maka, I didn't know that you would be here today," Black*Star said with an uncharacteristically quiet gentleness. "I thought that you would wait until a few more months passed before you showed up for school."

"Black*Star," I growled angrily, "if you think I'm going to miss school just because my mother left, you're dead wrong."

"If you say so," he chuckled, raising his voice. "Maka, this is my new partner, Tsubaki. Tsubaki, this is my friend Maka." The dark-haired girl, Tsubaki, extended her hand and smiled shyly.

"Hello." she said softly. I took her hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Tsubaki. So what kind of weapon are you?" I asked, curious to see what type of weapon the egotistic dimwit was able to partner with.

"She's four kinds of weapons, Maka!" Black*Star shouted. Tsubaki nodded in confirmation.

"I'm a shuriken, a smoke bomb, a katana, and a chain scythe," Tsubaki explained. "By the way...you don't have to answer but...you're mother left?"

"Ya," Black*Star answered for me. "A few months ago."

I felt a bit of anger rising in me at the blue-haired moron's reply.

"Black*Star, I've told you several times before, "a few" means about three. Mamma left two months ago, idiot."

A few awkward moments passed before Tsubaki attempted to break the silence with a smile and another question. "So, Maka, what kind of weapon are you looking for?" she asked.

Black*Star, being Black*Star, didn't even give me a chance to answer before he took a guess. "Wait, don't tell me...a scythe. Like your mom?"

"Yup!" I replied, the negative feelings replaced with the warm tingling I got when I thought of my mother. "Just like her. Speaking of which, Black*Star, Tsubaki, I'm going to start looking for my weapon. You guys go register yourselves as partners with whoever's taking this stuff down. I think it was Miss Medusa." I turned to Tsubaki. "She's the school nurse," I explained.

She nodded in thanks. "See you later, Maka!" Black*Star shouted. Tsubaki and I said goodbye and I went through the school's main entrance. The newest meister-weapon team decided to stay behind for a bit and talk before registering, just to be absolutely sure that they could get along.

It took about ten minutes of wandering the halls asking, "Excuse me, but what kind of weapon are you?" and disappointing answers until I heard the loudspeaker go off.

"All meisters and weapons, please report to your assigned homeroom in fifteen minutes!" Sid-sensei said over the intercom. I shook my head in disappointment.

Looks like I'll be starting school without a partner, I thought sadly.

It was then that I decided to use a few of those extra fifteen minutes to walk to the auditorium. I had always liked being alone in the huge room. I could think clearly in the dim yellow lights and echoing silence. I always sat on the edge of the stage and let my legs dangle. I could stare at the rows of empty seats and imagine students watching some of my favorite plays. It was much more entertaining for me than most other things, and wasn't quite as boring as it must have sounded to other people.

However, there was going to be some kind of piano recital being held at Shibusen soon for the summer school kids with the music elective. The school's finest of its seventeen grand pianos would be taking up most of the center of the stage. Why this concerned me, I didn't know, because I would just be sitting on the stage's edge and think or daydream. I'd be well out of the way of the piano at the edge of the stage.

But when I peeked around the curtain that separated the main stage from the backstage, I saw a person was sitting at the piano. They weren't playing, just staring at the keys. Thinking, it seemed. I walked a little closer and saw that the person had snowy white hair and was wearing an expensive-looking pin-stripe suit. A pin that read "weapon" was attached to his shoulder. His eyes were closed but when he heard my footsteps and turned to look at me, I found that his eyes were red. The color of blood, in fact.

Albino! I thought excitedly.

I had always liked to learn through reading, and when I found and read a book on genetics, I became fascinated by the way mutations worked. Albinos wear especially rare, I recalled, and had certain issues with things like sight. I began to wonder just how well he could see.

Smiling innocently at the boy, who looked no more than a year or two older than me, I spoke. "Hello. I didn't expect to see anyone in here. Am I interrupting anything?"

He shook his head, not saying a word. The thought that he might be mute instead of utterly blind briefly crossed my mind. "Okay then. I'm Maka. I couldn't help but notice that you're a weapon." The strange boy raised a brow and nodded again slowly. "I just wanted to know what kind of weapon you were."

His eyes went wide in surprise but he opened his mouth anyways. "I'm a scythe," he said, voice hoarse and scratchy from lack of use. The dark thought that he hadn't been talking because he didn't have anyone to talk to popped up in my head but vanished as quickly as it came.

My smile widened. "Really?" I asked, not completely believing what I had heard. "That's great! I'm a scythe meister." The boy at the piano smirked, showing off jagged teeth that looked sharp enough to kill a kishin egg soul. "So what's your name?" I asked.

The boy's smirk got a little smaller, just enough so that it covered his teeth. "If you want to know, then listen. This is who I am," he replied. The corner of my mouth twitched in irritation. I didn't like it when people were this indirect. Sure, I myself could be indirect at times but...never to this extent!

But then, the crimson-eyed boy pushed up the suit's cuffs a little and raised his hands over the polished of the piano. His hands went down in one swift motion and he struck a low cord.

As he continued on to play one of the darkest melodies I had ever heard, I felt myself being absorbed in it. It reminded me of everything that had been happening to me. It brought back the surprise of the promise I had made to my mother, the pain of her leaving right after, the frustration of dealing with my dad the past two months...all of it, fresh and tormenting.

But curiosity tugged at me as well. With each note, I felt myself want to be his partner more and more. I wanted so desperately to see his weapon form and to know the way he thought. As my interest in this person grew, I forgot my prejudices against men. Which, when I thought back on it, was quite a feat.

When the song ended he turned back to look at me and smiled, this time looking exhausted. I smiled and took a step closer.

"I don't understand it, but I like it," I said. With that, I held out my hand to him. "Partners?" He took my hand and gave it a firm shake.

After being partnered with Soul, as he later told me was his name, for a few months we began to take on jobs. Soul moved into the apartment my mother and had I shared. He took my mother's old room, which was empty, save for the bed, desk, and heavy wardrobe. Mamma had taken all of her important possessions with her the night (or morning, none of us really knew) that she left. All of her other belongings were in a small storage closet.

Mamma was still paying the rent for the apartment when Soul and I actually started making decent amounts of money. At one point, we both agreed to pay the rent ourselves and asked the building manager to stop charging Mama's credit card. At first, he refused, but Soul and I put up quite an argument. He reluctantly agreed and we learned to support ourselves without any help from my parents. We didn't need my parents' money, and Soul said that his parents "sure, as hell wouldn't pay for him". We used the money given to us by the school to buy every-day items and took on extra jobs to pay the rent.

Over time, Soul and I slowly grew closer and more open with one another. We were more like friends who had know each other our whole lives instead of a new weapon-meister pair. We spent a lot of time talking together, and even more time arguing. Most of it was about the negative habits that we had, as well as the trouble Soul and Black*Star (who were fast friends) caused.

One evening, I made him follow up on a promise we had made to each other, back when talking about childhood was still a touchy subject. We'd promised to share our past with each other and our reasons for entering the academy when we were ready.

He told me about his family, the Evans, and how they were all famous classical musicians. He told me that this was how he knew how to play piano and, in turn, why he had run away. Naturally, his parents, who already weren't happy with his chosen style of composing and behavior, were repulsed to learn that Soul was a weapon. He told me that he grabbed as much money as he could, packed all of his things, and took the family's private helicopter to a small town in Nevada. He'd threatened to fire the pilot if she didn't take him, because the idiot wasn't aware that Soul didn't actually have the authority to fire the family's employees. With the money he had brought, he got a ride to Death City and enrolled in the Death Weapon Meister Academy.

When he was done, I told him about my own issues with my parents: their constant arguments, the various times I caught my father cheating, then when they got divorced and how happy I'd been, their fight over who would have custody over me, my mother's victory, and then her leaving. I told him about the promise I had made to her, and how I could never keep it.

We were both in tears soon enough. Soul was complaining about how crying over the past wasn't "cool". This made me giggle a bit, which lightened the mood. To get our minds off such a depressing topic, we agreed to watch a movie before bed and ended up falling asleep together on the couch. Thankfully, it wasn't awkward the next morning, even though we had woken up with his arms around me and my face in his chest. To us, it was like sharing a bed with your best friend. Like when Soul had found me and Tsubaki shivering together in her bed last time we had gone over to her and Black*Star's house for dinner and a sleepover.

Just like back then, Soul and I were shaking from lack of a proper blanket. But it had been a night of friendly intimacy, and it was very comforting. Even though, for the most part, I still didn't particularly like men.

**Haru: So that's the end of chapter 1! Hope you guys enjoyed it. I tried to make the story manga-based. Feel free to write me a review and I'll fix any errors made. By the way, A lot of people seemed to have missed this, but, if you do the math, Soul and Maka had been partners for a year or so before the divorce. However, I am the AUTHOR of a fanFICTION so I messed with that portion of the story line for the sake of the plot of MY story. And-**

**Maka: *from a distance* Haru! Soul's waking up!**

**Haru: *to Maka* Coming! *to audience* As I was saying, feel free to review. On my last fanfiction (which I took down in order to re-edit without worrying about posting), I got actual reviews from only ONE person. I was hoping that the meisters and weapons of the Soul Eater fandom will be a lot more open and helpful than the battle-hardened shinobi of the Naruto fandom. Lastly, I wanted to give a special thanks to CuteCat213 for beta-reading for me. She caught some things that really helped me improved this chapter. Okay, gotta go help now Soul. Until chapter 2!**

**Maka: Haru hurry it up!**

**Haru: I'm coming Maka! *mutters* sheesh.**


	2. Damage

**Haru: Hey there meisters and weapons! I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to write shorter chapters for this story (as much as I enjoy writing longer chapters). Keep in mind that this means, not only lots of cliff hangers, but faster updates as well!**

**Maka: That's awesome Haru! Just one question.**

**Haru: Ya, Maka?**

**Maka: Can you let us read now? I want to know what you're planning to do to me.**

**Haru: If you had let me finish before interrupting, you and the audience could've started reading already.**

**Maka: Sorry. Continue.**

**Haru: Okay. So, I just wanted to give a special thanks to the people who have followed/favorited me as an author and this story. It makes me so happy to know that people enjoy my writing! Anyways, we're gonna get the main conflict of ****_Broken_****_Soul_**** started! Happy reading!**

~Maka's Point of View~

At age fifteen, you'd have thought I'd be smarter than to go off on a jog in an unfamiliar city at night. Nope.

Soul and I had recently been sent on a mission by none other than Kid. Thankfully, he hadn't sent us to a town on the exact opposite side of the world from our previous mission this time. He had done that several times in an attempt to "keep things symmetrical" and he had every right to, as his father's successor.

Though lately, he'd been changing his views on his Symmetrical Global Mission Assignment System, SGMAS for short. It was probably from all of Black*Star's loud complaints. And even Tsubaki, who had actually enjoyed all the foreign trips, got irritated at the constant travel at one point and complained too. Oh, there were others who complained, but none could be compared to Black*Star. And Tsubaki when she got angry. It's not pretty.

All of us had been influencing Kid, telling him that symmetry wasn't a necessity, but a beautiful thing that only a portion of the world was able to accomplish. This was slowly becoming part of his thought process, for which we were all grateful.

But the mission we were on wasn't close to Death City at all, SGMAS or not. It was somewhere in a small farming town in England. They barely had any electricity and their indoor plumbing was heavily flawed. On top of it all, no water heater. So no warm running water. This meant cold baths, which meant a cranky Death Scythe.

Soul and I were sent there because there had been a large number of kishin egg souls hiding out nearby. I found them all with ease, as my Soul Perception was now automatically activated when kishins were nearby. Soul and I took them all down in less than an hour and sent the seventy-some-odd souls back to Shibusen.

The mission was supposed to last a week, but we had completed the mission on the second day. This being the case, Kid decided to let us have the rest of the week to stay in England and take a vacation. So that was what we did. Only, we had moved to a slightly bigger town not too far away. It was more modern and actually had decent lighting and heated water.

Anyway, back to jogging. It was the evening before a plane would pick us up to take us home. Even after all the sightseeing and hiking, which was mostly what we had been doing the last few days, I was full of energy. Luckily, I had brought some sneakers and jogging clothes. I walked out of my room and into the small living room. Soul was standing by the kitchenette, getting a glass of water.

"Soul, I'm going out," I said. He turned to me with a quizzical look on his face.

"Aren't you tired at all? After today, you don't want to sleep?" he asked, leaning on the counter with the sink. "That mountain trail was pretty steep."

"Surprisingly, no," I replied. "I'm just going out on a short jog then coming back."

My partner raised an eyebrow. "Want me to come?" he asked.

I shook my head and walked to the door. "I'll be fine, Soul. I should be back in an hour."

"An hour?!" he roared. "Hell no! You're coming back in half of that! No excuses!"

I chuckled. He was kinda cute when he was being protective.

"Yes sir," I mocked, giving a two-fingered solute. This seemed enough for him and he smiled lovingly.

"Have fun then," he replied, taking a sip of water.

"I will!" I promised. With that, I opened the door and stepped out to go out onto the street and start my nighttime run.

Now, jogging as a civilian is just a slow run on the sidewalk. Not for a meister. No, not a three-star meister like me. My usual jog consisted of finding and climbing up a two or three-story building, running, and jumping across roofs. Normal people called this dangerous. I called it training and exercise.

What I wasn't expecting, however, was two people running on building-tops in the exact opposite direction as I was going. Needless to say, I crashed into the one who was farther in front of their companion. We landed tangled together on the flat roof of a three-story apartment building.

I groaned as I tried to get up, only to be pulled back down when the other persons body jerked violently. I looked up to see that the other person had caught up and was trying to pull the first one up. They seemed rather rushed, but the one I collided with either wasn't used to pain and was having a hard time dealing with it because they were groaning and refusing to move on their own. Maybe they had some serious injury that I couldn't see.

The last possibly probably being the case, they weren't going anywhere any time soon.

There were small lights on the corners of the roof so I was able to make out that both of these people were female. They both looked to be in their early twenties and were wearing expensive-looking clothing. The woman tangled on the floor with me had blonde hair and dull blue eyes. The one trying to pull her up, who was still rushing to get the blonde one to get up and keep moving, had a long brown braid that reached her waist.

I untangled myself from the blonde and asked her, "Are you alright?" She looked up at me and gasped. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay, miss?" I repeated.

The one with the braid yanked the blue-eyed one to her feet and they took a fighting stance. "You're working for one of them aren't you?" she growled.

"Um...what?" I asked. Then the idea that they might be referring to the fact that I was a meister and they were kishin eggs running for their lives entered my mind. But when I turned on my Soul Perception, I found that they had, despite the slightly different color, their souls were perfectly normal human souls. "Is there a kishin chasing you?" I asked.

Blondey scowled. "Kishin?" she asked.

I sighed. _They must be from one of those secluded islands or a little village in the mountains or something_, I thought. _How else could they not know what a kishin is?_

"Well, see, a kishin," I started, imagining Soul rolling his eyes as I began one of my educational lectures that he was so easily annoyed by, "is a-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence because Braid Girl lunged and punched me right in the stomach. I was caught off guard. I hadn't expected a woman who didn't know what a kishin egg was to be so fast.

I fell to the ground, banging my knees on the concrete and sending a shock up my body, but got back up immediately.

"What's your problem?!" I shrieked.

"Y-you're going to call them over here!" Braid Girl accused loudly, her voice shaking. "They made you! They want us but they found you so now you're all chasing us." I glanced behind Braid Girl to see Blondey holding a thick metal pipe that had a small curved segment attached to the end.

_A pipe? Huh. Wonder where she got that from_, I laughed to myself. _They're kinda cute, thinking that a pipe would hurt me after I defeated Asura._

Of course, Blondey threw her metal cylinder over to her friend. I scrambled back towards the edge of the dimly lit roof to avoid a blow that I was sure would follow.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I shouted. "I don't know what you guys are going on about, but I'm not out to get you! Just stop and we can talk this out."

They weren't paying attention to what I was saying. They didn't want to be caught by whomever was chasing them and were paranoid, it seemed. Knowing this, I didn't fight back when they attempted to land a hit on me. I dodged every attack, twirling and ducking to avoid getting hit as they swung for my head. They tossed the pipe back and forth between each other depending on who was closer to me.

Unfortunately for me, the two women made a very good team. They were able to work together and were very much in sync. I wondered if they were a meister and weapon pair with linked souls, but then realized that one of them would've transformed into a weapon by now if that were the case.

After a few minutes, Blondey seemed to get _really_ irritated. She ran right at me with incredible speed. But my reflexes were faster. I was able to dodge her punch and the swing from the pipe following right after. But she just kept coming at me. I was so caught up in trying not to get hit by Blondey that I forgot about Braid Girl. I'd been driven to the center of the roof with Blondey in front of me. At some point she had gotten rid of the pipe. It was then that I realized Braids must've had it.

A loud bang sounded, accompanied by a crackling noise. My vision went blurry and I felt large amounts of blood dripping down my back at an alarming rate, the source of the salty liquid being the nape of my neck. I fell to the ground, sending another painful shock through my body.

My eyelids began getting heavier and heavier with every passing moment. I was still fighting for consciousness when I saw the women who attacked me running for the edge of the roof only to have the end a rope thrown at them from somewhere behind me. It wrapped around their waists, binding them together. whoever had caught them pulled them backwards over me head.

While their screams were muffled and distorted, the small cooing of a bird next to my ear was loud and clear. It sounded like a pigeon of some sort, but I couldn't be sure. The steady tapping of the nails of the bird walking followed the sound. Through all of my confusion I could see a small white bird standing in front of my face.

_A dove?_ I wondered. My eyes closed and I drifted into a pain-filled sleep.

~Meanwhile—Soul's Point of View~

Maka had gone for her jog only about ten minutes ago and I was nervous already. It wasn't that I thought she couldn't take care of herself, because I had seen her fight and win against kishin egg after kishin egg. This nervousness was just a feeling that I was having and it was steadily building.

"Maybe I should go find her," I said aloud to myself.

Waves of panic were starting to roll through my body and I was really put on edge. Maybe I was feeling what Maka was feeling? That sort of thing had happened before and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it happened again. Our souls _were_ linked almost constantly.

I sighed.

_Guess I'll just have to find her then_, I thought. I grabbed my jacket off the coat rack by the door and was walking on the empty sidewalk in moments. As soon as I had speed-walked for about five minutes in the direction I though Maka had gone, my body jerked and I felt a flash of pain in the back of my neck. This must have been Maka's pain. It couldn't be mine, after all. My neck was fine.

I started running, sending out my soul wavelength in an attempt to locate my partner. I sensed her soul a couple blocks down. Maka's wavelength was very weak and it was getting weaker by the moment, making the amount of fear I felt multiply. What had happened to Maka? She couldn't have fallen off a building, could she? She liked to run on roofs, which I'd always warned her was dangerous. Not that she'd ever listen. She couldn't have _fallen_…could she?

No. The odds of her being so careless as to fall and get a serious injury were next to impossible for my Maka. And her injury was on the neck, no less. You don't fall and hit your neck too easily. Maka was probably still on a roof.

She must have been attacked. Someone or something had hurt her while I wasn't there to protect her. Maybe it was a kishin egg. But we had removed all of them from the area hadn't we? Maka hadn't mentioned sensing any either.

At this point I had found the building she was on top of. I stopped at the front door of the building—which seemed to be an apartment complex—and knocked loudly. I heard a flurry of footsteps and then a teenage girl opened the door. She was significantly shorter than me but looked my age. She was wearing a purple spaghetti-strap pajama shirt with matching pants. As soon as she saw me, with my red eyes, white hair, and bulky frame, her cheeks turned pink. I was also panting from running and probably looked quite stern. If I had been paying more attention I might have noticed that her face was starting to turn an even darker shade of red.

"C-can I help you?" she mumbled, eyes glued to the floor.

"I'm...Death Scythe Soul Eater...and I need to see you roof," I growled between pants.

"The roof? Death Scythe?" She gasped. "Is there a monster on the roof?!"

"How do I get up there?" I asked, ignoring her questions.

"The elevator isn't working at the moment so you'll have to take the stairs," she whispered.

I thanked her quickly and sped over to the stairs, almost knocking her over in the process of getting by. I ran up the steps, skipping a one or two with every leap]. After going up a few staircases, I was facing a door that had a sign that read, "Roof Access". I grabbed the knob and threw it open. I was greeted by an outline of Maka lying on the roof in the moonlight. Nearby was a dark puddle of what I assumed was blood.

I ran to her to see her sleeping peacefully, a fluffy white pillow under her head. She was stripped down to her gray undershirt. A stack of her clothing, neatly folded and bloodstained, was next to her on the side opposite of me. Resting on her stomach was a brown paper package tied with string. I removed it from on top of her and place a finger on her neck to find her pulse. It was fluttering weakly but began growing stronger.

Once I was sure Maka was alive and relatively stable, I took a look at the back of her neck. I found it bandaged on the back. Upon removing the bandage, I found a dark bruise and a scrape that was too small to have released the amount of blood that had soiled my meister's clothing. Maybe it had been her opponent's blood? But if she was fighting an enemy and had drawn as much blood as she did, then how come she was lying down with a pillow under her head and a band-aid on her injury, her clothes folded neatly beside her? With a package left on her, clearly meant for her to open when she woke up?

What could've possibly been in the package anyway?

_A bomb?!_ I wondered in panic. I eyed the small brown paper box cautiously before I grabbed it and placed it in my palm. Then I pulled one end of the string. It was an impulsive act, I hated to admit, but the knot came out easily and with no resistance.

Bombs and weapons weren't normally put where they could be easily reached, so this convinced me that whatever the package contained couldn't be anything too dangerous. Unless whoever put it there was an idiot. Or overly confident.

When I had removed the string, the wrapping drooped, showing off its contents. Two small, clear glass bottles with corks shone in the moonlight. A green paste filled them both to the brim. They were tied together with the same kind of thin twine as the package had been. Underneath the small bottles was a folded piece of parchment paper. Ink markings were showing through the stiff, yellowed paper. I placed the glasses on the floor next to Maka and took the paper in my hand. Upon unfolding it, I found that a message had been written on it.

_Dear Shibusen student, _it began.

_I'm terribly sorry that you got attacked. The women that hurt you are some rebellious morons with rich parents (they get out of trouble by paying the authorities and do this all the time) who don't care who they hurt. My job was to catch them and take them home so I'm not really authorized by my employer to do more for you than give you some medicine (though, I did sneak in some healing spells so you didn't have to get stitches). Please spread some of the paste in the jars on the scrape. Do this once when you wake up in the morning and again before you go to bed. Remember to put a fresh bandage on it every time you put on more of the medicine so it doesn't rub off! Feel better!_

_-Dove_

_Dove?_ I wondered. _Who names their kid "Dove"? But then again, my name is "Soul" so I guess I'm not exactly one to talk._

Of course, the bit about healing spells had set alarms blaring in my head. Maybe she was a witch and doves were her special animal? Like Medusa and snakes, Arachne and spiders, Eruka and frogs, and now Dove with doves.

"Um...i-is she ok?" asked a voice from behind me. I turned to find the girl who had let me in standing in by the entrance to the building. She was glancing back and forth between Maka and the puddle of blood nearby.

"Ya. Sorry about all of this," I replied. It was only later when I looked back on the night that I realized that my voice had been cracking the whole time. "I'll have Shinigami send over some money to make up for having to clean that up." I gestured to the blood and she nodded. I picked up Maka and cradled her against my chest. The vials of medicine and the note were left on the ground. "Would you mind helping me bring her stuff back to our suite? My hands are kinda full."

"Of course," she said cheerily. I thought that she was a little too happy for the situation. Her joyful smile didn't belong in a time like this, when I had found my partner just starting to recover from a near-death state on the roof of an apartment building in a small town somewhere in the middle of England. We were far from home. We didn't know anyone here and the hospital was clear across town. Luckily, the plane was supposed to pick us up first thing tomorrow. But I had no previous medical training. All I could do was follow the instructions written on the note.

Eventually, I had gotten Maka to the motel room and on the couch. May, the girl who had opened the apartment building door, had been very helpful throughout the whole ordeal. She'd put all of Maka's things, all the contents of the brown paper package included, in a bag and had walked us all the way back to the motel. I tried to offer making some kind of pastry or something for her to take home as a thank-you, but she had politely refused. May told me to make sure that Maka got better, that this would count as a thank-you. After that, she smiled and left.

I sighed. Looking down at my partner on the couch, I couldn't help but wonder how she had gotten into a fight with those "rebellious morons with rich parents", as the mysterious witch, Dove, had put it. What had my meister ever done to them?

Why would they hurt her like this?

**Haru: So what did you guys think? Liked it? Didn't like it? Tell me what you thought! Be as brutal as you need to with reviews. Criticism is as appreciated, as well as compliments! Also, please tell me what you'd like to see in future chapters. Ideas are appreciated. So now we're going to have an interview with some members of the Soul Eater gang! Ladies and gentlemen, meisters and weapons, please welcome Maka Albarn, Soul "Eater" Evans, and Death the Kid!**

***crowd clapping***

**Maka: We were already here but thanks for the intro.**

**Soul: Did you ****_have_**** to use my full name?**

**Kid: Symmetrical Global Mission Assignment System...I like the sound of that... *starring off into space, imagining actually using the SGMAS***

**Soul: Great job, Haru. You gave him a new idea.**

**Haru: *ignoring Soul completely* So, Maka, what did you think of the fight scene?**

**Maka: Well I thought-**

**Soul: Wait a minute! *blushing* W-why do I want to—but I can't—but I'm not—**

**Maka: Makaaaaa *Soul is oblivious* CHOP!**

**Haru: Not again... *sigh* Well, we're going to get Soul to the infirmary. See you guys in the next chapter!**


	3. The Black Witch

**Haru: Hey, hey, hey, readers! Chapter 3! Looks like a very important person is going to be introduced in this chapter. Can anyone guess who?**

**Maka: Is it you?**

**Haru: Ding, ding, ding! Correct Maka. Looks like you weapons and meisters out there are finally going to learn a bit about me (well, my OC). Fun right?**

**Soul: Actually, I couldn't care less. **

**Haru: Hmph! Looks like you don't want Maka to feel better, then.**

**Soul: I take it back, I take it back! I care! I care!**

**Maka: *is holding her stomach and laughing***

**Haru: *turns to Maka* You won't be laughing in a few minutes!**

**Maka: What?**

**Haru: On with the show!**

~Soul's Point of View~

Black*Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, and Patty, stood around the foot of Maka's bed, looking down at our unconscious friend. I was pacing back and forth by the side of the bed that was farthest from the door. We were all waiting for Stein to come. The crazy doctor had been trying to figure out why Maka had been asleep for so long. He'd left to read over lab results the several days ago.

Stein had sent word a little while ago that he had something important to tell us about the injury. The fact that he had called us all personally and told us to come to the Shibusen infirmary on a Sunday afternoon instead of telling us at school the next day.

Was Maka going to be okay? Would she ever wake up? She'd been asleep for a week and a half, and we all knew far too well that this meant that she wasn't in the greatest condition. Normally, people didn't stay unconscious this long from an injury as small as Maka's.

I myself had probably been more worried than I should've been. Maybe it was just because of the guilt that had been eating at me for long enough that even _Black*Star_ could sense that my soul was troubled. The guilt, of course, had been making it hard to sleep. When I actually did sleep, I had nightmares. Most of them consisted of Maka either dying or never forgiving me for not saving her from her attackers.

These dreams made my guilt even worse and a big part of me was saying that she really wouldn't forgive me when she woke up. It said that my worst fears would be realized and I would lose my partner, roommate, and best friend all in one fell swoop. I didn't want to lose what I had with her, not now and not ever.

"Soul, you're freaking out again," Kid said calmly.

"Ya, your wavelength is all over the place," Liz added. "Even us weapons can sense it."

I stopped pacing and looked up at them with tired eyes. "Can you blame me?" I heard my voice rasp.

Just then the door flew open. We all turned, expecting Stein to come rolling in the room on his chair. Instead, we saw a shaggy-haired Death Scythe. Spirit ran in and went about his usual yelling and bawling about how much he loved Maka and would get revenge for her or whatever.

The latter part made my wonder if he'd spoken to Stein already. If this was true, and Spirit was shouting about taking revenge, was there no hope for reviving Maka from her comatose state? Would I never speak to her again? Would she never smile at me again? Hit me with a book again? Force me to study again?

I was shaking by now and I knew it, though I didn't give it much thought. At least, not until Tsubaki came over from where she had been standing by Maka's bed and tapped my shoulder.

"Soul, are you okay?" she asked gently. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"You look kinda pale, Octopus Head," Spirit piped in, wiping tears from his face. I shrugged. A little paleness was nothing compared to Maka's condition.

"Why don't you sit down for a minute or two?" Tsubaki suggested quietly.

"Actually," a deep voice interrupted, "I _would_ prefer that he was sitting."

We all looked to the door to find Stein, looking tired and limp, turning the screw in his head. He motioned to a chair next to the bed and I took a seat, taking Maka's hand.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that Soul," the scientist warned.

"Why not?" I muttered.

"Because you just might end up cutting off circulation in her hand when you hear this," he responded as his screw clicked into place.

Panic rose in me immediately, but I did as I was told. Patty, who had gained the maturity of the teen she really was during the past year or so, and Liz were looking at each other in fear. Kid had an expression that said he wanted to hit something, Black*Star was struggling not to scream, and Tsubaki was holding her hand up to her mouth as she tried to hold back tears.

I raised a brow. "Is it that bad?" I asked, not completely sure if it was possible for Maka to be so hurt from an injury to the neck.

Stein shook his head. "Honestly...I don't know what her condition is," he said ruefully. "I think that Maka is in this state from an internal injury, but I can't tell for sure. I didn't find anything when I did a diagnosis and I even took a look at her soul but nothing seems wrong. Her wavelengths are perfectly even and relaxed. It's almost as if she's sleeping."

"So there's no way to know what's wrong?" Liz asked, voice shaking with worry.

"Unfortunately not," Stein agreed. "The only thing that I can say is that if she doesn't wake up within the next few days to a week, we might have to, ah…"

More fear began to build in me as his voice trailed off. What would they do to Maka? Was it dangerous? If it was, I would have to make sure that Stein didn't get near her.

"What?" Spirit demanded. "What would we have to do?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this," the professor muttered. Then he raised his voice and looked Spirit in the eye. "We might have to put Maka down, if you understand what I mean."

Tsubaki broke down crying immediately and the Thompson sisters joined her a few moments later. Black*Star just looked confused, as if he just wasn't comprehending what the doctor could've meant. Kid opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Spirit simply looked thoughtful, possible trying to think of an alternative solution. Stein looked down at Maka, pain in his eyes and sorrow in the way he held himself up.

I felt anger bubbling up in me.

_Does he mean that he's going to kill her off as if she were a sick dog?! _I shouted in my head.

As I was about to voice this thought, Spirit's head shot up.

"Stein!" he yelled.

"Yes?" the doctor asked, his gaze still locked on Maka.

"What if you called _her_?" the redhead asked loudly.

"Her?" Stein asked, a brow raised.

"Yes, Stein. _Her_. The witch girl that you were so _fascinated_ with when we were younger," Spirit taunted suggestively.

Stein visibly stiffened but relaxed his body with the same swiftness when he noticed everyone staring at him. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, making the following silence unbearable. I had to break the tenseness in the air.

"Who is he talking about, Professor?" I asked. Of course, I was inwardly screaming, fuming, and laughing at my teacher all at the same time for having a thing for a witch, long before the pact between us and them had been made, too.

_A _witch_?! He had a crush on a _witch_? That's hilarious! Well, a crush or the desire to dissect her…but with Stein I guess it's all the same…_

Stein shook his head. "She's…just an old friend of mine," he muttered, turning his head to the redheaded Death Scythe and raising his voice, "and I'm _not_ calling her here."

"Why not?!" Spirit yelled back. "She can help Maka. Give me five good reasons, Stein. Five _really_ good reasons why you can't ask her to come, right now!"

I felt curiosity blossoming in me. Who _was_ she? What was so bad about her that Stein, the greatest meister to ever graduate from the DWMA, didn't want her here? Wasn't she "an old friend"? And saying that she was a witch couldn't be used as an excuse.

Stein pushed his glasses up a little and glared and his former partner with an intensity I had never seen before.

"Spirit, we'll discuss this later," he growled firmly, leaving no room for question.

Spirit sighed in defeat and sent Stein a knowing glance. There was more to this mysterious woman than either of them seemed willing to let on.

"Do you two want a few minutes to discuss this?" Kid asked.

"That would be helpful." Stein said, returning his line of sight to my partner.

"Do the talking away from my partner," I hissed. "I don't want you alone with her. Just in case you decide not to _wait a few more days_."

Spirit's mouth twitched but he said nothing. Stein, on the other hand, seemed to sense the emotional turmoil in my soul and nodded before motioning for Spirit to follow him. After that, they left the room to walk away down the hall. The rest of us Spartoi kids were left to assess the situation.

~Stein's Point of View~

As Spirit and I walked out of the infirmary, I started to rethink the situation again, and not for the first time. If it came down to it, could I _actually_ kill my top student? Would I be able to turn off her monitors and inject her with a deadly poison?

And if I could, was it fair to everyone that cared for her? And what if Kami came home and Maka was dead? What would that do to her? Who would be the one to pay the price of her grief and pain? I was pulled from my thoughts when Spirit said my name.

"Stein…" he began. I pulled out a cigarette and lit it, responding to him with a hum. "Stein, why don't you want her to come here? Why don't you want her to help Maka? Give me those five good reasons I asked for," he pestered.

I blew some smoke out of my mouth. "Reason one," I began, "is that she's very sensitive, even if she doesn't want to admit it. Her emotions can go haywire at the slightest thing and she could end up taking it out on Maka.

"Reason two is that her wavelength is very…unpleasant to be hit with, so I don't want her around the students, should her power be released.

"Reason three," we turned into a different hallway, "had it ever occurred to you, Spirit, that she has a lot of enemies that are out to get her? If even _one_ of them follows her here, we could have a massacre of students on our hands.

"Reason four, it might not even be her that comes. It could be someone from her team or one of her superiors, maybe even one of her subordinates.

"Reason five," I stopped walking and turned to face him, "is that I don't want her to look at Maka's soul."

Spirit had been very quiet and had been paying very close attention to my reasons, for which I was grateful. The last one, however, got him to speak up. "Why shouldn't she see Maka's soul?" he asked.

I took the cigarette out of my mouth and tapped the end to make the ashes fall off before putting it back between my lips. I then turned away and started walking again.

"You're already aware that your daughter's soul has wings and that she possesses Kami's anti-demon wavelength, correct?" I asked. Once Spirit gave an affirmative noise, I continued. "Well, those are the requirements of someone in her…_profession_."

"Huh?" Death Scythe asked. It seemed that nobody had explained—or even _hinted_—to him what the witch's specific job was now that she was older. Or what happened whenever she touched a soul. Or found one that she was interested in. That girl had had more issues with insanity than I ever had, and that really _was_ saying something.

I sighed, my cigarette nearly falling to the floor in the process.

"Spirit…she's part of a small group of witches with special souls called "Angels," or something along those lines," I elucidated. "They all have souls with much bigger wings than Maka's and they all have exorcist wavelengths, also similar to you daughter's. These allow them to kill kishin just by sending out their wavelength."

I noticed Spirit's jaw drop in my peripheral vision and jealousy spiked from his soul, making me chuckle.

"Why can't I have that ability?" he whined. "It would make my life so much easier!"

"Spirit, if you did have that skill and you weren't born a witch, the Angels would've taken your soul," I replied.

Spirit mumbled an almost incoherent "never mind" and straightened up a little. "So, why would they take my soul, exactly?" he asked.

"Well," I began, "if you don't meet the requirements of the group, like being a _female_, you're of no use to them. But they can't just let someone with this ability run around freely. If they do—and they learned this the hard way, mind you," I warned, waving my finger at him, "and the person turns out to be less than an ideal citizen, there would be almost countless lives at risk. On the other hand, if you're born with the abilities of normal member, they have the right to take you away from your family and train you as one of them."

Spirit nodded slowly and opened his mouth to speak again, causing me to groan internally. "So, you think that Maka's soul is similar enough to theirs…and that the witch might take her and never give me my daughter back?" he asked, voice cracking at the thought of losing her daughter.

"Yes," I answered, "that's my theory."

"But," Spirit began in an argumentative tone, "a least that's better than her current situation. I mean, she'll be alive and she'll be taught how to use her wavelength to help the world even more than she already has, right?"

"I suppose that's a positive aspect of the situation, but you'll never see her again," I replied evenly. "But you have to think about her partner as well. To know that Maka would be out in the world, so close to him but just out of his reach, it would hurt him too much. They wouldn't even let Soul _near_ Maka, those Angels. They would probably wipe her memory of everything from before they start training her, anyway. She wouldn't remember you, or her partner, or her friends. She would be their mindless puppet to bend in whatever direction they please. And—"

"But," Spirit interrupted, "she'd be alive and healthy and she'd be killing kishins to make the world better for everyone else to live in."

"I…suppose so…" I responded, reassessing the situation like I knew Spirit was silently pleading for me to do.

And I _did_ think it over. Maka's life would be saved, she could live with people like her, train with people like her, and better herself. As for Spirit, he knew that he might never see his daughter again and he was ready to go through with it as long as he knew she would be saved.

"So we're in agreement, then?" I asked him. "I'm calling her?"

"Yes," Spirit whispered, sad and hurt at the thought of his only daughter, his pride and joy, being roughly ripped away from him.

~Soul's Point of View~

It had been hours since the rest of the Spartoi team had left the school, and even longer since the doctor and Death Scythe had left the infirmary to discuss the problem at hand. It was getting dark out and I was still here, by my meister's side, stroking her hair which I had long since combed every knot out of.

As I ran my fingers through her dirty-blonde locks, I started to think about what life would be like without Maka. It would probably be a mess: dirty clothes on the floor all the time, lowest grades in the class, the list went on. I would also have to train with a new meister. I felt myself dreading the possibility of having to find one. And to replace Maka, though I supposed nobody could exactly "replace" her.

It was then that I realized how much Maka meant to me. Sure, I had known that she was a very important part of my life but I never thought about just _how much_ I needed her. Not until now that I was sitting beside her, pondering what life would be like if they took my beautiful partner away from me.

The thought of losing her, the reality of it, made me feel like somebody was hitting my heart with a hammer. I felt physical pain upon knowing that my partner was going to be killed if she didn't wake up in time.

Fear began to creep into me, turning my blood cold. I felt the overpowering urge to cry and spill my heart out to her, so that's what I did. I leaned forward, burying my face in her chest and holding her. I cried out all the fear, guilt, and pain I'd felt since finding her on that rooftop. I told her about how she needed to wake up, to come back to me. I told her that I missed her more than she could ever imagine. I begged her to listen to me, to give some sign that she'd heard me. I couldn't lose her because, Death knew, I would die along with her if she left us.

It wasn't fair of Stein to just _decide_ the rest of her life. How could he just…kill her off when she'd more than earned the right to live the rest of her life. She deserved to do the many things she would miss otherwise, from the small things, like going back to our apartment again, finishing another book, or acing another test, to the bigger things like falling in love, getting married, and having kids. But, for some reason, in the end it was all dependent on the next few days. And that was such a short amount of time in comparison to how much she had left to lose. It just wasn't fair!

After I had calmed down and my breathing regulated, I released Maka and sat up straight. I glanced out the window to see the moon hanging high up in the night sky, chuckling with a mouth that was forever dripping blood. I check the clock on the wall to see that it was about midnight. I must have fallen asleep at some point for it to be as late as it was, but I had no desire to go back to my apartment and sleep any more. Plus, it felt as though the stupid yellow crescent was mocking me and my fears with its infernal grin, which just made me angry and gave me energy. So now I couldn't sleep if I wanted to.

I took a deep breath and went to get a drink of water from the fountain in the hallway in an attempt to calm myself. As I was about to step back inside the infirmary room, I heard voices from down the hall. They sounded like Spirit and Professor Stein, but I didn't trust my senses after just coming out of a state of emotional hell.

"So who's coming?" the one that sounded like Spirit asked. "I mean, who specifically."

The other one sighed. "All I know is that they're sending someone down. I'm hoping it's Raven—that's the witch's codename—but I can't be sure until she gets here," he explained. "They may send her entire team down. If she actually _has_ a team, I mean."

The people were now close enough to me that I could see that they really were the perverted scythe and crazy doctor that I called superiors.

Spirit noticed me just as I was able to register who they were. "Hey, Octopus Head! Guess what?" he shouted. The two men stopped in front of me and Stein motioned for me to go inside. I did so and held the door open for them.

"What's up?" I asked as they stepped inside.

"Well, you know that witch that I was talking about earlier?" Spirit asked.

"You mean this Raven person you guys were talking about a minute ago?" I questioned. "She's coming?"

"Now, mister Evans," Stein began in deep voice that told me I was about to be scolded, "you should know better than to eavesdrop." Despite him saying such, he was smiling gently.

I smirked back. "If it regards my meister, then I'm gonna listen in on whatever you have to say," I replied.

Stein's face fell immediately. "Soul," he started uncertainly, "even if Raven can come and take a look at Maka, there's no guarantee that she can give a diagnosis. I just wanted you to know that there's a chance that we could still lose her, witch or no witch."

"Way to be optimistic, Stein," Spirit muttered.

"When's she coming?" I asked, ignoring the redhead completely.

"She should arrive anytime between an hour from now and noon tomorrow." Stein replied.

"Good," I growled, turning my attention back to Maka.

I was in the classroom the next day fifteen minutes before the first bell was supposed to ring. I felt refreshed and, for the first time in almost two weeks, happy. Raven was going to come and take a look at Maka's neck to fix her up. I smiled at the thought of Maka waking up and burst out laughing at the prospect of having to tell her that she had missed classes for a week.

I was somehow very attentive throughout the first period. I could feel the life and color coming back into me as more time passed. By second period, or our "study hall period" (which was just an excuse for Stein to dissect something on his own or read), I was sure I had been zapped with electricity, despite having gotten half of the amount of sleep I usually did. I couldn't sit still for anything and, at one point, Stein sent me out of the room, telling me to go outside and get some air to calm myself. Instead of arguing like I usually would, I just walked out of the room with a smile on my face.

I went to one of the balconies near the top of the school so that I could look at the view of the city in the morning sunshine. I stood next to the railing and stretched my arms out to the sides, looking to the clouds and letting the light from the sun warm my face. When I opened my eyes, however, I saw a little black dot in the sky. At first, I thought that it was just a bird, but as I was about to step back inside the school, I glanced back at it. The dot seemed to have gotten bigger.

My eyes widened and I sprinted back to the classroom. I burst through the door, panting, as Stein was about to start writing something on the chalkboard for the next period.

"Mister Evans," Stein began in a warning tone, "please take a seat."

"Professor…there's…something," I panted, "that's falling…from the sky."

"From the sky?" he asked, smiling. "That would probably be the witch."

I smiled to Stein while he turned to the class, telling them something about reading until he got back.

We ran out of the classroom and as soon as Stein and I had sprinted to the door that led outside the school, a loud crash and the sound of stone shattering greeted us. We looked at each other, confusion evident on both of our faces. I opened one of the doors to find the courtyard utterly devastated. I looked around in shock, searching for the cause of the broken courtyard.

There was a large crater in the center of the crackled stones. Some large chunks of stone jutted out of the ground. They had caused dust to swirl around in the air. My jaw dropped at the sight.

Stein sighed and muttered, "Not again," before making his way to the center.

_This has happened before?!_ I wondered in amazement before scrambling after Stein.

As I neared the center of the rubble, I heard distant shouts and chatter behind me. I turned and looked at the school to see that students had crowded the balconies located around the school, filled the windows of classrooms, and there was even a crowd gathering just outside of the school entrance. Black*Star, of course, was standing on one of the red spikes jutting out of the playful-looking skulls of the school's exterior.

I rolled my eyes at the blue-haired idiot and kept walking. Stein was looking down into the center of the crater, scratching his head, and doing some mental calculations as I came up next to him. I looked down into the hole as well. What I saw shocked me to the core.

There was a young girl, maybe a few years older than I was, lying on her back. She seemed to be unconscious but her hands were twitching. The girl, who I assumed was Raven, had pitch-black hair and her skin was so pale that it was almost gray. She had the sharp facial features of a model after her photo was edited to remove all visible flaws. Her skin was clear and her lips had been painted red, though other than that she wore no makeup.

She was wearing a white, long-sleeved cloak that reached her ankles, white leather gloves, and matching white leather boots. Raven had a thick golden choker around her neck. It seemed to be made of metal and I imagined it would've looked like a halo if you took it off and held it up. I could also see a thin, delicate silver chain hanging loosely around the base of her neck. Most of it was hidden under the cloak, so I couldn't tell if there were any beads on it.

I stepped down into the crater to crouch down next to her. I grabbed the Raven's shoulder softly and shook it lightly. She reacted immediately, gasping loudly. Her back arched in pain her eyes flew open to reveal glowing golden irises that rivaled Kid's own.

She sat up, panting and looking around in panic before shouting, "Soot?!"

A meow sounded from next to Stein, who'd been looking at us calmly until he saw a little newborn-sized black kitten standing next to him. He did a double take and took a few steps away from the creature as if he were afraid of it. The kitten, who I presumed was Soot, mewled again and Raven breathed a sigh of relief. She then stood up wordlessly, brushing dust and pebbles off her cloak.

Someone by the school entrance whistled flirtatiously. She turned to the crowds of students, scowling angrily. Embers floated around her hands before her fists caught fire completely.

"Everybody get yourselves back in class!" she shouted with an intensity that could probably make a kishin egg cower in fear. Anger rang in her melodic voice.

As soon as all the kids had fled inside, she turned to me and the fire surrounding her hands disappeared.

"Hey there, kiddo," she greeted warmly, ruffling my hair as a heart-melting smile crossed her pale face. I smiled back nervously, not knowing what brought on her sudden change of attitude or why she called me "kiddo." I didn't look _that_ small, did I?

Stein cleared his throat as the little kitten beside his foot walked up to Raven, rubbing herself against the witch's ankle.

"Black Witch, I've requested your presence here—" the Professor began, only to be interrupted.

"I'm not listening to anything anybody has to say until my teammates get here. In the meantime," she sang with a smile, the beauty in her voice was hypnotizing, "you two can move away so I can fix the courtyard, 'kay? And then you're going to explain this "Black Witch" business."

I looked to Stein, silently asking what to do. He jerked his head towards the school and we both walked over to the entrance, the little black kitten following us. As I leaned against the door, Raven raise her arms to her sides and her gloved hands started to glow. She began floating upwards until she was about ten feet above the broken yard. She muttered a spell (or, at least, I assumed it was a spell) and her body began to shimmer. The light emitting from her figure began to grow more intense until it was almost blinding. I shut my eyes to block some of it out and preserve my eyesight, but as soon as I did, I heard a sound that was similar to that of an earthquake, just much louder.

When I opened my eyes again, Raven was sitting in the center of the courtyard, the stones perfectly aligned. There were no cracks—or even loose pebbles—in sight. I smiled walked over to her.

"That was really cool, Raven," I told her.

"Raven?" she asked, raising a perfectly trimmed eyebrow.

"Isn't…your name Raven?" I asked.

She thought for a moment, as if she couldn't remember what her name was. Then realization crossed her face and she laughed. "Raven is one of my codenames," she explained, "but you can call me that if you'd like. I don't really care what you call me."

"Oh…okay, then," I replied. "Raven it is, I guess."

She nodded and stood back up, cleaning dust off of her clothes for the second time today.

"Sounds good. So, what's your name, kid?" she asked.

"Soul," I replied. "Soul Eater."

"Soul Eater, huh? Interesting," she murmured, rubbing her chin, before she leaned her face in. "Go tell Stein to go back to his class," she said quietly, her candy-scented breath tickling my nose, "and then you can show me who's injured, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to wait for your teammates," I said, not wanting to be left alone with a witch, peace or no.

"I don't want to be alone with him," she whispered. "It feels like he's hiding something, and I don't like secrets so I want to be as far away from him as possible. Plus, if he's anything like I remember, then he'll try to take my soul out and study it once we're alone."

I smirked in understanding. "Sure thing," I whispered back.

**Haru: So…how was the chapter?**

**Soul: So…why is Maka going to be taken again? I mean, the Angels are witches, right? Maka isn't a witch and there's definitely no risk of her becoming a bad person.**

**Maka: Ya. I didn't defeat Asura just to take over the world!**

**Haru: But there are other ways to turn you into a bad person, Maka. *smirks evilly* Let's see what I can do with that… *devilish chuckle***

**Maka &amp; Soul: *nervous gulp***

**Haru: *suddenly back to peppy self* Okay then! Before I go, I wanted to remind everyone to leave a review or P/M me. Tell me what you liked, didn't like, or what you want to see in the future!**


	4. Off

**Haru: Hello again, readers! How've you been? Good? Good. So have I. **

**Maka: So…you were just telling me a minute ago that we're doing something with my hair? I hope you're not planning to get rid of my pigtails, because I happen to actually ****_like_**** them.**

**Kid: You had better keep her usual and perfectly symmetrical pigtails, or else Maka just won't look pretty.**

**Maka: *holding 500-page hardcover book* Are you saying that I'm only pretty with my hair up in pigtails?!**

**Kid: *nervous laugh* N-no of c-course not, M-Maka…**

**Soul: *laughing in the corner***

**Haru: Now, now, Maka, you've gotta be nice. Plus, nothing is happening to you hair in this chapter. The ****_really_**** interesting stuff is happening to your health…and your father's soul! But that's not gonna take place until the next few chapters…**

**Maka: *nervously* What?**

**Soul: Hey, what are you going to do to my partner?!**

**Haru: *ignoring Maka and Soul completely* On with the chapter!**

~Souls's Point of View~

"Would the patient happen to be a Miss Maka Albarn?" Raven asked as I practically dragged her to the infirmary with the same energy as I'd possessed previously that morning. I was holding her wrist in my hand and I unconsciously tightened my grip at the question. Did she know Maka? But, how _could_ Raven know her? I most certainly didn't remember Maka mentioning meeting a witch who actually seemed…_nice_.

"Y-yes," I answered shakily. "How did you know?"

Before she could answer, the bell rang for the end of second period and the beginning of a fifteen-minute break between classes. Students burst from classroom doors to meet up with friends or study groups to spend their mid-morning recess with. I felt Raven tense and I glanced back to see her face panicked as her eyes frantically darted around at the students. I quickly yanked her into an empty hallway, deciding to take the long way to the school infirmary to avoid all the students and keep the witch happy.

"Raven, how do you know Maka?" I repeated, trying to get her mind off of the herds of teens only a few meters away.

"Oh, well, you see, a friend of mine was on a mission a week or two ago," the witch said slowly and hesitantly, "and she came back saying that she found a girl being attacked by her, uh, targets. Said the girl had a soul with wings and an anti-demon wavelength—or anti-magic or whatever. We did a little bit of asking around and we found out that the girl's name was Maka Albarn. I knew her dad, by the way," Raven added, shuddering slightly, "back when we were kids. He was very…_different_, for lack of a better word."

I laughed. "He sure is." I said. We continued to walk in silence until I rethought her statement. "Wait a minute!" I yelled, turning and standing firmly in front of her. Raven raised an eyebrow at me, tipping her head to the side in confusion. "When you guys were…_kids_?" I asked cautiously.

Raven threw her head back and laughed. "Yes, kids. You know, that point in life before you hit puberty—"

"I know what a child is!" I shouted back. "B-but you look so…"

"Young?" she finished. "I know. I get that a lot."

Through my shock, I was only able to mumble the word, "How?" It took Raven a moment to make out what I had said, but once the witch _did_ figure it out…

"Oh my Death, you're so _cute_!" she gushed, trying to hold in her excitement as her face brightened with her smile. Her cheeks turned pink and I was suddenly very afraid that she might hug me so tightly that I would turn purple from lack of oxygen, like in the movies. Thankfully Raven settled with fanning herself with her hand in an attempt to calm down.

"Sorry," she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, "I just have a soft spot for kids."

I sighed and started walking down the corridors again. I'd hoped that people would have stopped calling me a kid. I _was_ sixteen, after all. But to a witch who could look just as young or as old as she wanted, it probably didn't matter what age you appeared. It all depended on your personality. But was I really that childish?

"I'm not a kid," I muttered finally.

Raven placed her hand on my head and ruffled my hair. "You're a kid to me," she said. "Now then, let's have a look at your girlfriend."

My eyes widened in surprise and I stumbled a bit before Raven grabbed my leather jacket to steady me. "Oh I am so sorry!" she exclaimed. "I didn't realize that it was such a touchy subject…"

My eyes were wide and my mouth dropped open as I tried to think of what to say. "Uh…"

The witch sighed. "Or…she isn't your girlfriend at all?" she asked.

I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself so that I didn't look _that_ stupid and flustered.

"N-no," I replied. "We-we're just partners."

"Oh, so that's why," she mumbled. "Sorry. It's just that your souls are in sync. That happens when you're really close to somebody and stuff so I assumed…that you and Maka were, uh…romantically involved?" Raven sighed. "Can you take me to the infirmary now so I can see what's wrong?"

I shook my head and smiled nervously. "Ya, um, i-it's this way," I sputtered, pointing down the hall.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, only speaking about which hallways to go through and when to turn. When we reached the door to the room Maka was staying in, the bell rang to signal the students that the next period was about to begin.

I opened the door for Raven and she thanked me as she walked in. Once she was in the room, she stopped and looked around for a minute before muttering something incoherent under her breath. It sounded like a complaint or an insult, but I wasn't sure.

I walked over to where Maka was laying, still sleeping soundly in the bed by the window. She was a little sweaty, which was strange because it couldn't have been more than seventy degrees in the small room. Maybe she was dreaming about something bad?

I picked up an empty bowl off the nightstand and grabbed the small hand towel that had been next to it and walked to the infirmary room's bathroom to fill it with water.

"Hey, Soul?" Raven called from the room.

"Yes?" I replied as I placed the bowl in the sink and turned on the faucet.

"Did Spirit and Stein ask for your permission before they called my out here?" she asked. I turned off the running water and placed the towel in the bowl. Then I picked up the bowl and brought it back out of the small restroom.

"Not really," I muttered, concentrating on keeping the water from spilling as I walked over to the nightstand.

"So that's what the selfish bastard was hiding," Raven whispered angrily. I placed the bowl on the night stand and looked sideways to see the witch leaning over Maka. Her eyes were glowing slightly and darting around Maka's form in the way I had come to learn meant that she was using Soul Perception. I remembered the glowing-eye thing happen to Maka when she turned her own Soul Perception on. Raven was scowling down at my partner, rage turning her pallid face slightly pink.

"You mean Dr. Stein?" I questioned as I picked up the wet towel from the bowl and twisted it to squeeze the excess water out.

Raven sighed and looked away, nodding and bitting her lip. Her hands were balled into fists again.

"Why does it matter if he's a selfish bastard?" I asked. An idea formed in my head as to why nobody asked me about any of this, or even mentioned it before hand. "Are they going to make us pay the medical bill? Because we do that all the time."

The witch took a deep breath and shook her head. "Not exactly," she murmured. "They _really_ didn't tell you?"

I shook my head and used the damp towel in my hand to clean Maka's face. She gasped slightly when the cold liquid touched her skin, but relaxed as I placed my hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Would it matter if they did?" I asked.

As the witch opened her mouth to reply, the door to the infirmary flew open. Standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips was a ginger who looked just as young as Raven.

The woman wore a black leather corset-looking top that was held closed be small metal clips all down the center, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. She had netting leggings beneath black denim shorts and high-heel black leather boots that almost reached her knees.

One arm was covered by a galaxy-themed tattoo that went from her shoulder to a few inches below the elbow. Tattooed on the other arm were faces and quotes in some foreign language, covering about the same amount of space. Her hands were covered by black, fingerless biker gloves.

She wore thick black eyeliner and bright red lipstick. Diamond earrings shone next to her face, accenting her slightly sunburnt skin. A black circular piercing was placed on either side of her lower lip, near the edges of her mouth.

"I'm heeeeee-eeere~" she sang, making the piercings move slightly.

Raven's face quickly went from distress to joy as she noticed the woman in the doorways.

"Took you long enough," she teased before tuning to me. "Soul, this is my friend, uh…" she turned her head to the young woman. "_Cosa stai chiamando te stesso_?" she asked in what I recognized as Italian.

The girl in the doorway deflated instantly and sighed. "_Fenice,_" she replied.

Raven chuckled and turned to me to me. "Sorry about that, Soul. Both of us use a lot of different names and aliases. I was just checking which one she wanted to go by," she explained.

"Call me Phoenix!" the girl in the doorway, Phoenix, shouted.

"Not so loud," Raven scolded. "We're in an _infirmary_. Anyway, _Fenice_, why don't you come help me take a look at the patient?" Raven indicated to Maka.

The ginger nodded and walked over to the bed as I re-soaked the towel and placed it on my partner's forehead to keep her from heating up again.

"Soul, was it?" Phoenix asked. I looked up to see her bent over Maka.

"Ya?" I asked, rubbing my eye. The lack of proper sleep was getting to me.

"Do you know what happened to Maka?" she questioned.

I sighed. "All I know is that Maka was hit in the neck by something that has a rough surface. She was on a jog and she got into some kind of fight somehow. I kinda…_felt it_ when she was hit. I don't know how I did, but I think her soul-"

"Her soul is connected to yours, Soul," Raven interrupted. "That's why you felt it," she explained as her eyes began to glow from Soul Perception again. Phoenix did the same and they both stared intently at my partner.

"Oh," I replied, reaching my hand out to stroke Maka's hair.

Raven's eyes suddenly widened and she nudged Phoenix. "Do you see that?" she asked, pointing to Maka's stomach area. "I knew something was off…" she whispered.

The ginger leaned forward and squinted, as if there was something there that shouldn't have been. It must have been something small, some tiny, ity-bity imperfection.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panic beginning to build in me.

Raven shook her head and looked up at me and her golden eyes stopped glowing.

"Soul," she said slowly, "I think you should go back to class." I opened my mouth to reply, but the witch stopped me with a raised hand. "Don't complain." She was using the commanding tone she'd taken when she'd ordered the students back to class after she'd landed in the courtyard. "Just go so we can do our thing."

I felt all of the energy drain from my body. Raven was a doctor. She was here to help and I knew better than to argue with someone offering assistance. But why did I get the feeling that she was going to do the opposite? Maybe it was because she was a witch.

I'd seen so many evil witches before and I didn't know any particularly _good_ witches other than Kim. The only reason that we were all at peace was because either the witches were loyal to their leader—I could never remember the head witch's name, for some strange reason—or they were afraid of being killed by a group of kids. But still, just because Raven was a witch, was she evil? Was she out to get anyone at the school?

Was my partner in danger?

**Haru: Chapter 4 complete! *pride***

**Maka: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!**

**Soul: *growling angrily* What did you do?**

**Haru: *smirking* You'll just have to wait and see! But I hope you guys enjoyed meeting Phoenix. She is actually based off of my little sister. Dove, who I'll (hopefully) be officially introducing in the next chapter, is based off my other sister! Anyways, I wanted to ask any of my readers who speak Italian to please send me a P/M, because I was using Google Translate for that little bit of Italian. I'm not really sure how close that little sentence was to the actual thing, so it would be really helpful to have an actual translation. **


	5. Fixed

**Haru: New chapter! I bet everyone's excited, right?**

**Maka: Just get to the point so we can figure out what's wrong with me.**

**Haru: Fine then, Little Miss Irritating. I just wanted to ask, once again, for someone who speaks Italian ****_fluently_**** to leave a review or P/M me. I need a translator for certain phrases. I would like a translator for Japanese as well.**

**Soul: Don't forget about that one comment somebody left on chapter 4 that you had to delete…**

**Haru: Right, thanks for reminding me Soul. *clears throat* Some insensitive person decided to leave a really rude comment in the reviews. It was a guest review, so I have no way to track them, but it wasn't funny. It insulted the ethnicity, beliefs, etc. of several people that I love very much. I just wanted say that I don't appreciate that at all. Luckily, my sister managed to (Mostly. Kinda. Not really.) calm my temper, but if I get any more racist or insulting comments, a complaint is going directly to the fanfiction website. Anyway, for those of you who are innocent in all of this, sorry to have kept you from reading the chapter. Enjoy! **

_Recap: The Black Witch came to the DWMA and was soon followed by one of her teammates, Phoenix. As they were looking at Maka's soul, they found something that could possibly be the cause of Maka's unconsciousness. Soul was thrown out of the infirmary room by the women, leaving him with doubts about their truthfulness. He goes back to class, second-guessing his meister's safety._

~Soul's Point of View~

***Please read the last paragraph in the pre-story dialogue (before the recap) before continuing on with the story if you haven't already. It's important. Thanks!***

I was sitting in class with my head down on my desk. My panicked soul was probably disturbing the rest of the class and keeping them from paying attention to whatever it was that Stein was droning on about. Hopefully, nobody really minded.

By the time the lecture was over, it was time for lunch. I was planning to eat a small snack on my way to visit Maka in the infirmary. Hopefully, Raven and Phoenix would be finished with whatever it was they were doing to Maka by the time I reached them.

I was leaving the room with an apple in my hand when Ox blocked the door.

"What's wrong with her _this_ time, Eater?" he asked with an unusually rude tone. "You've been worried more than normal and frankly, you look terrible."

I looked up at him with tired eyes and sighed. I was in no condition, emotionally or physically, to deal with him. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and I'd been worried sick since I was kicked out of Maka's room.

"I have no idea, Ford," I whispered, pushing the confused teen aside.

The walk to the infirmary consisted of sympathetic looks as well as the usual heart-eyed stares from the first and second year girls. I'd finished my apple within two minutes or so, all the edible parts gone. I hadn't realized I was so hungry until I swallowed the first bite of the red fruit.

When I reached the infirmary doors, I stopped with my hand on the knob. I could hear the voices of the witches from inside. They seemed to be arguing, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. To better hear them, I pressed my ear against the cold door, fingers gripping the shiny metal handle tightly.

"I still think we should tell him," I heard Phoenix say in a stubborn tone.

A frustrated sigh—probably from Raven—followed. "Tell him what? About what we did to Maka during the operation or about what happens to her next? Because the first option would get us in trouble with every _one_ of our superiors and the second would make two Death Scythes—not one, _Fenice_, but _two_—angry enough to cut us in half."

"Actually," the ginger replied matter-of-factly, "it would be only one. Spirit _was_ the one who requested that Stein send for you, after all."

"Whatever!" she shouted in irritation. "The point is that it's not happening, got it?"

Phoenix's incoherent muttering followed, along with a warning about how this would end badly either way.

Another irritated sigh sounded from behind the door. "It's just like Stein to do this," Raven complained, voice cracking. "He causes a problem and leaves it up to others to pick up the pieces."

"Come on now, _nii-chan_," Phoenix replied soothingly. "It was either leave it to you or _he_ would be the one to get cut in half by a certain, ah, well, a _white-haired eavesdropper_!"

My grip on the door handle tightened and a feral growl escaped my lips. They knew I'd been listening. They _wanted_ me to hear them, possibly to make it easier to break some terrible news to me.

As I was about to open the door and confront the witches about it, I felt someone grasp my hair roughly and yank me backwards. Then I was pushed, face-first, against the door. I heard a crack and pain shot through my face from my now-broken nose and forehead. Blood leaking from both places started to stream down my face.

I was released and I slid to the floor, a thin trail of blood left against the white painted wood of the door. As the world was fading into black, the last thing I saw was the blurred shape of a pale, white-haired woman staring down at me.

~Unknown Point of View~

As I'd rounded the corner in the hallway with my team leader's brother, her brother's assistant, her daughter, and apprentice behind me, I'd spied the albino boy leaning his ear against the door. He was listening to the conversation that was coming from what I guessed to be the infirmary.

I heard my teammate shout something about a "white-haired eavesdropper," and the boy's grip tightened on the doorknob. I immediately assumed that he was some type of threat, especially if he was unhappy about being found out. He was spy sent by what was left of my friend's father's army, perhaps? Maybe he was even a crazed ex of my team leader's? Despite the fact that he looked a bit too young (though you can't really judge by appearance in our line of work), it was a highly likely possibility. And it happened almost everywhere we went, so thinking this was practically second nature. That woman took on too many missions that involved…em…seduction to get information. The result of these many missions was leaving a trail of vengeful, broken-hearted men behind her.

With this in mind, I signaled the four people following behind me to stop by raising my right hand. Once they'd all halted and hid back behind the bend in the hallway we'd just come from, I soundlessly surged forward with a super-human speed.

As I was within a meter's distance, I looked around. The hallway was deserted, save for me and the boy, so I was almost free to do what I wanted to the pint-sized male. I decided that I probably shouldn't kill him, no matter how much I wanted to. For all I knew, he was just some hormonal teen listening in on a physical exam, not an actual threat. If that was the case, all I had to do was knock him out and leave the rest up to my teammates.

I chose to inflict a small amount of pain as punishment instead of simply hitting a nerve to make him instantly fall asleep. Even if he wasn't committing a serious crime, eavesdropping wasn't polite, so I grabbed his hair with my dominant left hand and pulled him backwards with a _little_ more strength than I'd originally intended. I had probably inflicted some extra pain and ripped out some strands of hair in the process. I shrugged and shoved him forward quickly so that he wouldn't bend too far back and see what I looked like. His face made contact with the door and I heard a snap. I released him in shock at the sound. Had I broken the door?!

He fell down, leaving a long, vertical red smudge on the white paint of the wood. There were, fortunately, no new cracks or dents left in the wood.

_Thank goodness I just broke some part of his face! _ I thought, relieved. _I'd hate to have to pay for _another_ broken door…_

~Soul's Point of View~

My eyes suddenly shot open and I sat up, gasping for air. Not that my open eyes did too much for me; I was surrounded by darkness other than a dim circle of light shinning down on me. I looked down to my body to see if I was all right. My gaze traveled to the floor, and I reached out to pat the solid surface of the ground. Only, it wasn't ground or dirt or gravel. Not even the smooth tile that I was sure I'd been standing on before I passed out.

Ripples emanated from where my body touched the solid black surface of what felt like rock but glistened and moved like water. I poked at the substance with my finger and more ripples were sent out from where I had made contact.

Some part of me found this experience of waking up somewhere strange with nothing but a small light…well, not normal but not shocking either. I felt no fear, no coldness, and no warmth either. I shrugged, not completely caring, and stood. After I took a few steps forward, the feeling that I had to find something quickly hit me. My walking turned into a sprint. I dashed forward, not concerned if I'd bump into anything, since there wasn't anything else for me _to_ avoid hitting.

I wasn't sure how long I'd run for. Was it minutes? Hours? _Days_, maybe? All I knew was that I had to keep running without stopping. There was something I needed to find. My feet sent more ripples through the floor as I ran, the spotlight followed me everywhere.

As my feet began to ache, I saw a bright light up ahead. I briefly wondered what it was before deciding to do the reckless thing and charge at it. But as I got closer, the light took on a rectangular shape. I slowed as I neared it, the cautious part of me finally kicking in. But it was just a rectangle of light. What was so wrong with it that this shyness began to take effect?

I stopped in front it. It was floating a foot above the surface of the watery-stone substance that made up the floor which I stood on. The top of it was just above my head and it was about my height in length. The light looked like an old television screen, curving out slightly around the center.

It showed nothing but snow, the irritating buzzing sounds included. I reached out to touch it, hoping that it would stop making noise and go away. My fingertips were a few inches away from the glassy surface of the light when the snow went away, only to be replaced with an image.

The image was a simple white background with one word written in thick, navy cursive. "Sit," it read. I raised a brow and turned. Under a spotlight very similar to my own sat a red velvet chair with gold-painted wooden legs and a matching frame. I was sure it hadn't been there before, but I knew better than to question these types of things; I never got any answers.

I shrugged and walked over to the chair. As I sat, I saw the color of the screen change in the corner of my eye. When I looked up, there was a new image on the screen. The image sent pain coursing through my body and sadness stabbed at my heart.

It was Maka, smirking triumphantly, beautiful as ever, with her hands on her hips. The sun made her skin and eyes glow. Her dirty-blonde hair was down, falling rather ungracefully on her shoulders while a few locks were still tucked behind her ear. She was wearing a green bikini top and dark gray shorts. Behind her was the ocean. A sailboat could be seen at the edge of the picture displayed on the screen.

A small sandcastle stood next to her foot as a wave large enough to wipe the tiny piece of architecture off the beach reared up behind her. Plastic shovels and buckets were splayed around in the sand. Mounds of unused wet sand were piled up on the side of the castle opposite Maka.

I remembered this. It was what I'd seen the day the two of us went to the beach a few weeks prior to her fifteenth birthday. We were in the Bahamas, enjoying our last day before heading back to Nevada from a mission. I was swimming in the clear, warm water while Maka was reading on a beach chair under an umbrella.

I'd gotten impatient when Maka refused to join me in the water and stalked up the beach. I dried myself off to be sure that nothing of my partner's got wet and snatched the novel from her hands. I took the bookmark from where it had been placed on the chair next to Maka's thigh and stuck it between the pages the book had been open to.

"Give that back, Soul!" Maka had shouted angrily.

"Only if you have some fun," I'd replied, smirking and holding the book away from her as she tried to grab it. "If you can build a sandcastle, I'll give it back to you."

She'd scowled and stalked off to the water, grabbing a pail and shovel on the way. I took her spot on the chair and laid back, turning the book over in my hands to read the summary on the back.

_"Peter Bellawer runs away from home to join the army to forget, to leave his memories behind…"_

After that, I'd lost all patience with the summary—which happened quite often when Maka would try to get me to read one—and opened the book to the first page. I started reading, actually enjoying it, for whatever reason. By the time I was about fifty pages in, I heard Maka calling my name. I closed the book and looked towards the water. Maka was kneeling in the pale sand with a large lump next to her.

I chuckled and walked over to her. As I got closer, I noticed that the lump actually looked like…well, a castle. It was complete with pointed towers, windows and doors, and it even had a little mote surrounding it! The mote was full of sea water and sand crabs (because alligators could't fit, or else goodness knew Maka would've found a way to put them in).

Maka had stood and taken the position that had stuck in my memory, the one I was staring at now. I shook my head as a sob racked my body and stood. I ran with full force at the light, thinking that I would stop in front of it. But, of course, I tripped during my stop and fell towards the screen. Instead of landing painfully against a glass surface, my body slid through it. I gasped as the warmth of the screen tickled my skin.

Suddenly, I was standing on that beach, Maka in the position she'd been on the rectangular light stood in front of me. Sounds surrounded us, the harsh screech of seagulls overhead, the water crashing around the sand, my partner huffing in triumph. A warm breeze hit my bare chest and face. I saw Maka shiver a little before her eyes narrowed.

_Death, she's_ moving! I shouted in my head. _S-she's not supposed to be moving…it's just an image, right?_

She seemed to sense my shock and stepped up the beach towards me. Maka placed a hand on my forehead as if checking my temperature.

"Soul?" she asked gently. "Are you alright? You're a little pale. Maybe you've been outside for too long."

And suddenly, I knew where I was, what I was seeing. I was knocked unconscious after eavesdropping on Raven and Phoenix. This image, the darkness, the lights, all of it was in my head. Or, rather, in my soul.

"Soul?" Maka asked again, sounding worried. "You okay? What's wrong? You're scarring me."

I shook my head and smiled fondly down at her. I wanted to relive this memory, even if I changed it. Which I intended to do.

"I'm fine," I said, taking Maka's hand from my shoulder and holding it in both of my own. "Maka…"

"Y-yes, Soul?" She sounded nervous, unsure of what I was doing. This wasn't something that I'd do in real life, not to Maka. I wouldn't push her like I was about to if this were actually her.

"Do you love me?" I asked. Her eyes widened and her jaw loosened. I had caught her off-guard, which was a nice change. It was usually the other way around.

"I-I, uh," she stuttered, her face reddening. I chuckled and dropped her hand, making her bite her lip. I took a step forward a leaned in, my nose touched her own and my eyes closed.

"Well?" I whispered, my hand sliding up her arm and over her shoulder to rest against the side of her neck. "Do you?"

Fear of what I was doing was clear in the stiffness of her muscles. I felt her begin to move away just before she squealed as a wave washed over our feet. Maka jumped forward in shock and our lips were suddenly pressed together. My hands wrapped tightly around her waist and I turned my head, trying to get closer.

My partner relaxed in my arms and her hands slid up my chest to my shoulders, making me shiver. I released her after a few moments, figuring she might just be pretending to enjoy the kiss and would shove me at any moment or pull out one of her famous invisible books. But she didn't. Instead, Maka yanked me back down by my shoulders and she tangled her fingers in my hair.

I let myself get lost in the scene I'd imagined up, wishing I could _actually_ kiss Maka. I'd wanted to for some time now and I was curious as to why Maka had never noticed. She could feel my soul wavelength, after all, so she must have known _something_ was going on with me. But if she did, she never said anything, nor did she even hint at it.

I woke to voices and a dull ache in my nose. The heat coming from Maka's body, the pure bliss of kissing her, were gone. My eyes were still shut but I knew I was in the infirmary. I smelled the chemicals in the air and felt the soft white blankets under me. Maka's wavelength was steady and nearby.

"But why did you bring them?" asked a curious feminine voice.

_Raven_, I thought. _That's Raven's voice._

"Well, I wanted to make sure you were alright," replied a deep male voice that I didn't recognize. "Plus, I wanted to know what happened to the venom samples I was supposed to have been receiving. Snake and spider venoms like those aren't as easy to come by as you'd think. Especially with my limited resources."

"Oh, well, Arachne and Medusa were killed so…" Phoenix's voice said.

"What?!" the man shouted angrily.

"J—I mean, Doctor," a shy female voice whispered. "I think you should sit down."

"_Aaaany_ who," Raven's voice cut in, "Soul, you can stop pretending to be asleep now."

I opened my eyes and scowled as I sat up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. I looked around to find that I was in the bed next to Maka's and that there were seven people surrounding my partner. On the side opposite me was Raven, who was standing next to the nightstand.

Next to her were two kids. A pale little girl around seven years old with straight white hair that had streaks of gray in it was holding onto the witch's hand. She had bright blue eyes and was wearing a white silk dress. She looked at me with a small smile on her face and waved shyly.

A boy about eleven or twelve stood next to her with his arms crossed. He was wearing a fitted gray shirt and dark cargo pants. His black hair had thick lines of silvery-gray that made his bright green eyes pop. He had a suspicious scowl on his face that made my insides churn uncomfortably. Not that I would let him see that.

Next to the boy was Phoenix, who had thrown on a black leather jacket and exchanged the black piercings in her lips with silvery ones. She was smirking and shaking her head at me as if to say "Silly boy. You can't pretend to be asleep in the company of witches like us."

Next to her stood a woman with hair similar to the little girl's. She wore the same style dress as well. The only differences between the two was that the woman was about Raven's age of eighteen or nineteen. She also had silver eyes, was at least five-nine, and had a gold choker that was identical to the one around Raven's neck.

Leaning on the foot of the bed was a fuming blond man in his early twenties with blue eyes. He was in dark blue doctor scrubs. His body was tense and the muscles in his arms were clearly defined. Beside him, stroking his arm calmingly and whispering gentle words to him, was a petite blonde woman around the same age. She was dressed in light blue nurses' scrubs. The actual kind with long pants. Not the short-skirted, white uniform that nurses wore in movies, books, and TV shows. Her hair was in a ponytail, two short locks of it left out to dangle on either side of her face.

My gaze drifted from the blondes back to Raven and then down to Maka. My earlier anxiety came back and I thought of the conversation I'd overheard before being knocked out. Anger bubbled up in my gut, pushing out the fear and pain. I looked up to glare at Raven. The little girl holding her hand squeaked and hid behind the witch's legs.

"What did you do to her?" I growled.

Raven dropped her gaze to Maka. Her eyes glowed briefly as she activated her Soul Perception then deactivated it almost immediately.

"I performed a surgery," she said firmly, despite the sadness playing on her features.

"_And_?" I asked through gritted teeth, unsatisfied and rapidly losing patience. "What kind of surgery?"

Raven's expression changed, and when she looked up at me, she was tired. Dark circles were present under her eyes.

"The kind that's never been done before," she whispered. I gasped as my eyes widened and my hands started shaking. The witch smiled at me. "But don't worry, Soul. It went well. And she's perfectly fine now. There's nothing wrong. She should be awake by tomorrow."

I sighed in relief and fell back on the bed. Maka was going to be ok. She was really going to be fine. I smiled.

"When can she come home?" I asked, sitting back up with a grunt.

Everyone's face fell, even the stern pre-teen next to Phoenix, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"About that…" Phoenix began, looking to the white-haired woman. "Dove, can you explain to Mr. Evans what…what's going to, uh, happen next?"

"Dove?" I asked quietly. "You're the one who saved Maka, then?"

Dove looked at Soul and crossed her arms over her chest, a neutral expression on her face.

"Yes," she said. "I did."

I opened my mouth, meaning to ask her to tell me exactly what had happened the night I found Maka on the roof, but I was interrupted by Phoenix.

"So, Dove, you gonna explain now or…"

Dove looked back to the ginger and scowled.

"Nope," she replied coldly. "It's not my problem. Tell 'em yourself."

Raven began tugging at her robe, trying to pull it closer as if she were cold. Then she looked to the little girl that still clung to her and the boy with the black and white hair.

Quietly she said, "Kids, why don't you go with your uncle and Miss Sharon and explore the city, ya?"

The nurse and the doctor, who I guessed were the kids' uncle and Sharon, looked up. The little girl ran out from behind Raven to the foot of the bed, where she jumped up towards the blond man. He caught her and held her against his chest. She threw her little arms around her uncle's neck and pressed her face to his shoulder. The boy that had been standing next to Phoenix saluted stiffly and walked to the two adults, still looking rather concerned.

Raven nodded to them and Sharon waved goodbye with a sad expression on her face. The four exited the room, the young boy bringing up the rear, practically marching. My gaze followed them and, just before disappearing from sight, the little girl waved goodbye.

As the door closed softly behind the group, I turned to the three witches.

"What aren't you telling me?" I hissed.

Raven took a deep breath and turned to her companions.

"_Torna più tardi e ottenere la ragazza pronta ad andare_," she said.

Dove shrugged and walked into the restroom, shutting the door loudly behind her. Phoenix quickly gave the excuse that she was going to get some water and raced into the hallway, leaving me and Raven alone.

She looked to me and straightened herself, putting on a serious expression.

"Why don't we take this outside?" she suggested gently.

**Haru: Ok! So that's the chapter. Still looking for those Japanese and Italian translators so if you know anyone who might be able to help—**

**Maka: YOU!**

**Haru: Shit! *runs away shouting* SORRY GOTTA GO! LATER, EVERYBODY!**

**Maka: *chasing* GET BACK HERE! **

**Soul: *running after Maka and Haru* WAIT FOR ME! I WANNA SEE YOU MAKA-CHOP HER TOO, YOU KNOW!**


	6. Cracks and Curses

**Haru: *has black eye and bandages covering left cheek* Hey there readers! So, as you can see, Maka and Soul…actually, they weren't the ones who hurt me. That was Spirit. He's not too happy with the story so far… *smirk* or what I have planned *happy smile* On another note, I'm still looking for those Italian and Japanese speakers to help with translations! I would really like to stop using Google Translate for it because we all know that it's wrong with a lot of things. So ya, just P/M me or leave a review.**

**Spirit: *clears throat* Can we get on to the story now? I want to see if you ****_changed_**** the plot line yet to, you know, to the way we discussed it.**

**Haru: *sweatdrop* Er, ehehehe ya, sure, uh, ON WITH THE SHOW! *hides in corner***

_Recap: Raven the Black Witch came to the DWMA earlier that day and was soon followed by a witch named Phoenix. After Phoenix, came Dove, the witch who had saved Maka in the first place. Raven reveals to Soul that she had done an operation on his partner that had never been done before that. It was successful and Maka is supposed to be awake by the next day._

~Soul's Point of View~

I knew that something was about to go terribly wrong. Anybody could've seen that, though. But what was really scaring me was the fact that Raven was attempting to make conversation as if I needed to be relaxed before she struck the final blow.

"So, Soul," she began as we walked away from the infirmary. Phoenix had held the door open for us to leave before she herself slipped back in. "Tell me about yourself."

I glared at her out of the corner of my eye. She wasn't looking at me and probably didn't notice the invisible lasers I was shooting in her direction.

"Not much to tell," I replied calmly.

The witch chuckled and shook her head. "Your file and my sister say otherwise, Mister Soul Eater Evans," she replied.

My head snapped in her direction and I stopped walking. "My _file_?" I hissed.

Raven stopped a few steps ahead and turned her head back to look at me, smiling brightly. "Yes," she replied, "your file. I could show it to you if you'd like. I've got it on me."

I was furious. First, this _witch_ walks in and says that she doesn't trust Stein, the greatest meister to graduate Shibusen as well as a very responsible professor. Then she goes and _assumes_ that Maka and I are dating. Next, she brings her witch friends (one of them saved Maka in the first place but still) without prior warning. On top of it, several _other_ people followed Dove into the school! Now, she has a _file_ on me?! That was crossing a line.

"So do you want it or not, kiddo?" Raven chuckled.

"Give it," I demanded in a low voice.

She shook her head, smiling in amusement. "Now, Soul, is that any way to speak to the person who just saved Maka? I would've thought you'd be more happy with me than that." Her face fell. "Well, you won't be in a few minutes but still…"

I sighed and thought of Maka. What I wouldn't do to see her smiling and awake just one more time…

Suddenly I was tired. I was tired physically, I was tired of worrying, I was tired of dealing with the intense desire to be close to Maka that I'd been suffering form since the defeat of Asura, and I was tired of this whole damn situation. I briefly wondered if this was the world's way of getting back at me for some crime committed in a former life, or just some cruel test given to all of those who are good.

Raven sighed, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Why don't I give you your file and we head into town?" she asked quietly.

I nodded and stumbled forward.

A breeze ruffled my white hair as Raven and I sat in the grass of the small training forest by the school. The trees bent with the wind, towering over us oppressively.

"So," I began. "What's going to happen to Maka?"

Raven chuckled and pulled out a manila folder, thick from the stack of papers in it, from behind her. Where she got it from, I didn't know. I hadn't seen it before now and it wasn't as if she had a bag big enough to carry something like this without it getting bent, as far as I could see. Maybe she'd used magic to make it appear.

"I thought you'd want to see you file first, Soul," she said.

I took the folder from her but decided not to read it yet. Instead, I put it on the ground next to my coffee, which I'd gotten with Raven before we came to the training grounds.

"Not going to read it?" she asked curiously before shrugging and shaking her head in a "none of my business" gesture, which I appreciated greatly. "Oh well. Just be sure to get that back to me soon so I don't get into trouble with my bosses when they see it missing." When I nodded, she continued. "So Maka—"

"About Maka," I interrupted. "What's so interesting about her soul that Stein didn't tell you? You mentioned that he was hiding something."

Raven sighed and nodded solemnly.

"Her soul has wings," she replied, as if that was supposed to explain everything.

"I already know that," I snapped. "Who cares? Why's that so important?"

The witch looked to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. "Soul…this won't make much sense to you," she said gently, "but I need you to understand that if this isn't done, Maka won't survive."

My chest tightened painfully, as it did whenever I thought of losing Maka, of her dying before her time came.

Raven looked up at me again, the tears gone, and straightened her spine. She cleared her throat and continued.

"I have to take Maka from Death City to my facility so I can finish treating her properly," she said quickly, as if she was ripping off a bandage so it wouldn't hurt as much.

Instead of pain, I felt relief wash over me and released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

That was it? Maka would leave for a little while, then she'd be back and fully functioning after the witches had finished healing her? That wouldn't be so bad.

"Okay," I said, smirking slightly. "How long will it take for you to bring her back?"

Raven scowled angrily. "She will stay at the facility for the rest of her life," she said bluntly, before turning her head away and biting her lip.

My expression hardened and anger welled up in me. How _dare_ she try to take Maka from her home, her friends, her family! As I opened my mouth to voice these thoughts, Raven held up her hand to stop me and her expression softened.

"Soul, let me explain," she said almost pleadingly. "Maka's soul—when I looked at it—there was this…crack."

Overwhelmed by confusion, all of my anger was pushed out of me as quickly as it had appeared. I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Huh?"

A faint smile curled the edges of Raven's lips. "Yes, Soul. Her soul had cracks in it," she repeated. "I think she got it when she was hit by that pipe, which is the thing that those women used as a weapon to hit Maka with, by the way. Based on their recount of the fight they had with her, they had sent a Magic Wavelength—which is a soul wavelength combined with magic, in case you didn't know—through the metal. It's actually a very common attack move that a lot of us use."

"By "us" do you mean other witches?" I asked.

Raven nodded. "Anyone with a magical ability within our village is taught this type of stuff," she explained. "Anyway, when I looked at Maka's soul with Phoenix—"

"But you looked at her soul before that," I interrupted, turning back to the original subject of the conversation. "You were using Soul Perception and you started getting angry at Professor Stein because her soul had wings…?"

"Well, yes," she said slowly, carefully choosing her words. "But I'll explain about that some more in a minute. When I'm done you can ask me all the questions you'd like, okay?" I nodded, signaling her to keep going.

"Well, the Magic Wavelength is meant to stop any outgoing bursts of magic coming from your opponent. The two women who attacked Maka—a blonde named Nessa and another lady named Jessica—told us that they thought Maka was working for us and trying to help capture them. People who work with us are generally other witches or have magical abilities, so it's only natural that this was the first technique they'd attempt to use. Not that it does too much good when it's not directly applied on the enemy. Maka shouldn't have been affected by the Magic Wavelength, since she isn't supposed to have magic."

"But Maka was affected?" I asked. "Wouldn't that mean she'd have to have magic?"

Raven chuckled and shook her head. "No, no, of _course_ she doesn't. But her father has a curse on him, so the magic-"

"What?!" I shouted, springing up from my position on the grass. "Since when is he cu—"

"What's going on?!" a voice called out from behind me.

I turned to see Kim running up to me, Jackie following just behind her. As they stopped in front of me, I noticed that there were scratches, dirt and grass stains, and leaves stuck to their Spartoi uniforms. It seemed that they had just come from a serious training session.

"What were you shouting about, Eater?" demanded Kim.

"And who's that?" asked Jackie. I turned my head towards Raven. She was on her feet, brushing dust and grass off of her white robe.

I looked back to the two partners. "Nothing to worry about. And that's Raven," I said, jerking my thumb back at the witch. "She's a doctor."

Jackie smiled. "Are you here to see Maka?" she called over my shoulder to Raven.

The witch came up next to me and placed a gloved hand on my shoulder. "Yes, I am. Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Kim," said the meister, "this is Jackie, and _you_ are a witch." Jackie's jaw dropped in surprise at Kim's remark.

Raven smiled sheepishly. "Yes, and so are you," she replied. Kim glared at her, obviously unhappy that someone had seen through the Soul Protect that she almost always had activated. "My, my," Raven continued with a concerned, motherly tone, "that's a lot of magic you're putting into your Soul Shield. Or…I think you guys called it Soul Protect…"

Kim's scowl deepened. "So?" she asked.

"I was just going to suggest not using so much of your energy on Soul Protect, since everyone seems to already know who you are," Raven said sternly. "Seriously, if you keep exhausting yourself, you won't live to see age fifty; your body will give out on you if this continues. You're no immortal, so you can't keep using it for such extensive periods of time."

Kim snorted. "You're just trying to scare me," she accused. Jackie leaned over and whispered something in Kim's ear, causing her to relax slightly. "Well," she huffed, "if nothing's wrong, we'll be going."

Raven frowned as the pair walked away. "Just be sure to consider it, Miss Diehl!" she shouted after them. Kim flinched then grabbed Jackie by the wrist and started running. The witch hummed in confusion. "I only addressed her by her last name. I don't know why she's upset," she complained.

"When _did_ you learn her last name?" I asked. "I don't think we mentioned it at all."

Raven smiled brightly at me. "She has a file," she said. "Now, shall we continue?"

I nodded and Raven started to walk in the opposite direction. I picked up the file on the ground as well as my coffee and walked after her.

"Now, where was I…?" she wondered aloud.

"We were, uh, talking about the curse?" I supplied. "The one placed on Spirit?"

Raven snapped her fingers. "Yes, the curse!" She paused. "Well, see, do you know which witch," she chuckled, "it was that Kami killed to make Spirit a Death Scythe?"

"Um, no, not really," I replied. "Was I supposed to?"

"No, she wasn't really a witch with any type of noteworthy skill," Raven said. "Her name was Aphrodite. She was a very vain witch who could mess with emotions. Love, mostly, as the name suggests. Anyway, just before she was about to be killed, she cast a spell…"

_Kami activated her Soul Perception before jumping from the roof of the beach home, her weapon partner and boyfriend in her hands. _

_"Do you see her, Kami?" the black scythe asked as she landed in the sand._

_The teen scanned the shore of the Mediterranean, half-hoping not to see the soul of Aphrodite the witch. _

_"No, not yet," she replied. _

_"Foolish girl!" a voice boomed, seemingly from all around them. "I am not one to be killed easily!" Kami took a stance and tightened her grip on Spirit's handle. _

_"That _totally_ explains why we're one hit away from killing you!" Kami retorted, continuing to look in the water. Suddenly, her eyes landed on the witch's soul. "You can't hide from me, Aphrodite!" Kami ran toward the water, her goal being the shimmering pink soul just below the small waves._

_Aphrodite rose to stand on the water's surface. Her flowing brown hair and pink silk dress were splattered with blood. Her fair skin was dirt stained and, despite having just been submerged in the water, she was dry as Nevada in the summer. The witch's green eyes were bright in the afternoon sun, full of anger and determination._

_"You will not win!" she shouted and raised her hands in Kami's direction. The meister jumped, raising Spirit back over her head as they activated Soul Resonance. Pink and red sparkles shot out of Aphrodite's palms, speeding towards them. _

_Acting on reflex, Kami swung Spirit in front of her, blocking the shimmering magic with his dark blade. His weapon form shimmered with pink light momentarily before disappearing. Something in his soul wavelength changed but, strangely, their resonance rate only increased as Kami pulled him back over her head before yanking him down once more. Aphrodite smiled wickedly and spread her arms to the side, practically inviting them to strike her._

_"You may kill me, but I'll have the last laugh!" were the witch's final words before being sliced vertically in half. Kami and Spirit landed in the water as the soul of Aphrodite floated above the surface. _

_Spirit transformed and swam next to his partner who had yet to break the sea's surface. Kami smiled at him just before he grabbed her by the waist and kissed her as they resurfaced. They grabbed the soul and swam to the shore, where Spirit collapsed on his back in the sand._

_He was panting much too hard, in Kami's opinion. After all, they'd barely swam thirty feet to the shore and it's not as if he'd been doing any of the work while killing Aphrodite. Maybe he was just…really out of shape?_

_Oh well, it didn't matter. She, Kami, was about to create a Death Scythe at age seventeen. That accomplishment was all that mattered._

_Kami held out the soul to her partner. _

_"Eat up, Spirit!" she said. The scythe smiled up at her lovingly before sitting up and swallowing the soul._

_After his transformation into a Death Scythe, Spirit hadn't been the same. Kami always noticed his eyes wandering more and more as time passed. At first, she thought he was just staring off into space. Eventually, she started to realize he was looking at other women. She confronted him about it and he swore that he loved her more than anyone. _

_A couple months later, Kami announced her pregnancy to him and they got married. However, every once in a while, when they went on walks or out to dinner, Kami would still catch him looking at other women. She decided to ignore it, for they daughter's sake. _

_After all, Spirit wasn't really a bad person and the _last_ thing Kami needed was for their daughter not to trust in him._

"So Death Scythe wasn't always a womanizer?" I asked Raven when she finished her story.

The witch shook her head in response. "No, he was really very loyal to Maka's mother," she confirmed. "I think it was that spell. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be cast on Kami, though, not him."

I nodded. "Do you know exactly what the spell was meant to do?" I asked, still unclear on the actual purpose of the curse cast on the red-haired man.

"I have a theory, but I won't know for sure until I get a closer look at Spirit's soul. I only got a glance at it when he came in to check on Maka while you were in class. I didn't want to ask about it though," Raven explained.

"What do you think it is, though?" I asked.

The witch took a deep breath. "I think that the curse made it so that all the love Spirit felt towards Kami would be redirected at other women. Same with what he feels towards Maka, since a part of her is Kami."

"So this spell," I began slowly, "caused him to go to other women? Doesn't that mean that Aphrodite caused the divorce?"

"Yes," said Raven. "I guess Aphrodite _did_ get the last laugh, since she broke them apart in the end."

"So…how does all of this effect Maka?" I asked.

"Well, it seems that since Spirit had a spell cast on him a month, give or take, before Kami got pregnant, the magic almost…became a part of him," Raven explained. "It stuck to his soul and I'm guessing some of the magic clung to Maka as well."

"Does that mean that Maka is cursed too?" I asked quietly.

Raven laughed. "Nah, that's not how it works," she said. "She just has traces of magic in her. But I think if I got rid of the curse on Spirit, whatever magic is in Maka should disappear as well."

**Haru: So? Did you guys like it? Review!**

**Spirit: I'M CURSED?! THIS ISN'T WHAT WE DISCUSSED!**

**Haru: Crap! *runs* Until the next chapter, readers!**

**Spirit: *runs after* GET BACK HERE!**

**Soul: Ok, well since those two are gone, looks like it's up to me to end this thing. Just one last reminder, Italian and Japanese translators are still needed. If you speak the languages fluently, P/M Haru or leave a review blah blah blah, you know the drill. That's it. Now go read a SoMa.**

**Maka: *raised eyebrow* So you ship SoMa now, Soul?**

**Soul: *sweatdrop* Uhhh, h-hi there, Maka…I, uh, didn't see you there…**


	7. Taken and Gone

**Haru: Who missed me?**

**Maka: *snorts* Not me.**

**Haru: Careful with the attitude there Maka, or you might not ever see Soul again. **

**Soul: Hey! I thought this story was going to have a ****_happy_**** ending!**

**Haru: I just might be convinced to do otherwise. You never know. Any-who~, still looking for those translators! Remember, I need people who speak Italian and/or Japanese fluently. P/M me or review. Speaking of which, any type of feedback or review (positive or negative) on ****_Broken Soul_**** is appreciated. Getting this kinda stuff really makes my day.**

_Recap: Raven reveals that she has to take Maka away to live out the rest of her life in service to the witch, or else Soul's beloved meister will die. She also discovers something that nobody ever knew about: Maka has magic in her. Also, Spirit was cursed by a witch just before becoming a Death Scythe. Lastly, before the operation performed on Maka, the teen's soul had, apparently, cracked. _

~Soul's Point of View~

I sat in the infirmary next to Maka's bed, sorting through the pages upon pages of information in my file. It had _everything_ on me in it: a copy of every important document, pictures of art projects from preschool, copies my original compositions, photos of me and my family, graphs on various things, every experience in my life that I valued typed out into detailed essays, and so on. It was kinda scary that Raven's organization—the Angels—were able to gather this much information on me. And from what Raven had told me, almost everyone had a file like mine.

As we'd walked back to the academy the other day, the witch had told me all about the Angels. Spirit confirmed the information as well. He also told me that he'd practically given Raven his blessing to let her take Maka. I'd been surprised and furious at first but once he'd gone more in-depth in his explanation of what the Angels did, I understood why.

Spirit had saved Maka's life and ensured that his daughter would be doing amazing things with her future, even if it was without us. Spirit only wanted what was best for Maka, after all. And this way, she'd safe too.

Raven wasn't being a jerk about it either. In fact, she seemed sympathetic and unhappy that I was losing the only person I _really_ trusted. She'd promised me a few more days to say goodbye to Maka before taking her and going. Although, because of some _protocol_ or something, Maka was to be kept in her comatose state until her memories could be removed.

The image of Maka in my arms on the beach popped up in my mind when she mentioned memories. I groaned as an involuntary longing to _actually_ kiss my partner caused a stab of pain in my chest. I reached for Maka's hand, intending to hold it tightly in my own palm, but hesitated. What if I squeezed too hard and hurt her while she couldn't speak out about it?

I settled for brushing a stray lock of blonde hair from Maka's forehead and leaned over the side of the bed, resting my head next to hers. My nose brushed her cheek and I shut my eyes as sadness took over my thoughts.

~Raven's Point of View~

I didn't like having to take Maka away; it just added to all the guilt I'd acquired over my years of service in the military. I'd killed and raided and I've hurt people throughout various wars and battles. None of it had ever felt good, since it wasn't exactly in my nature to cause pain. If it came down to it, I'd prefer that it be me feeling the pain, not others. My brother had told me that I was just selfless, too much for my own good.

Maybe he was right. But that didn't change anything at all. I was still going to take Maka away from her home and turn her into the same weapon that my superiors had made of me. I was still going to leave Soul's heart broken into pieces. I was still taking away any chance for what could've been.

"Mamma!" shouted my daughter from down the hall of the mansion, breaking my train of thought.

"Yes, sweet heart?" I yelled back.

The little girl came running into the room, stopping in front of where I sat at the desk. Her long, white hair sticking up in multiple directions, as if a balloon had been rubbed against her scalp.

"Mamma, Ari wants you to come take him out," she informed softly.

"Catalina, did you mean he wants me to train with him?" I asked with a brow raised.

Catalina smiled. "No, he says he wants you to take him out," she replied.

I sighed in frustration, still not entirely sure what it was she was talking about.

"Okay. Tell him to come in, sweety," I said.

"Okay," she squealed and ran from the room, beaming with happiness, as per usual.

"I'm sorry, but you want to…what?" I asked Ari in confusion. Normally, he didn't ask for things like this.

The boy sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his white-streaked black hair.

"I want you to take me back to the infirmary," he said exasperatedly.

"Um, ya, I heard that, but, uh, why?"

Ari's eyes widened slightly. "I-I'm not exactly sure…" he whispered. "I just…I have this feeling…"

I chuckled and smiled. _Finally_, my apprentice was learning to listen to instinct.

"Alrighty then," I said as I stood. He looked up at me and his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Are—are you sure?" he asked after a moment of confusion.

I laughed. "Goodness, kiddo, I thought you _wanted_ to go."

"Oh, I," he paused before smiling. "Yes, I do."

I grinned.

While I went to drop off Ari, Soul gave me back his file. As I reached for it, I found that Soul's hands had a slightly unusual shape. His index finger was almost the same length as his middle one and the nail on his thumb was slightly crooked. Normally, one wouldn't mention an observation like this, nor would they notice it in the first place, but I just had to ask him about it.

"Pardon me for asking, Soul," I said, "but why is your finger like that?" I pointed to his index finger.

He raised a brow in surprise. "Um…it's genetic, I think," he'd replied. "Why?

"It's just that my sister's hands are like that and I kinda just…" I trailed off, not knowing exactly how to finish without scaring the poor boy.

Soul had blinked and nodded. "It's ok," he said slowly. "Just not a question I get too often."

"I see," I said. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Soul's hands looked like my sister's and he was the only Evans that I knew of that was a weapon…could he be related to the man I'd been searching for?

"Soul," I began with a serious expression, "you're not going to understand why, but I need you to tell me if you're the only weapon in your family."

"What's with the weird questions?" Soul asked, annoyed. "And, ya, I am."

I smiled. "Oh, I see," I replied. "Could I ask you a few more questions?"

The teen sighed and slumped in his chair next to Maka's bed.

"Fire away, I guess," he said.

"Alright, uh, let's see…" I was a little unsure how to phrase my questions. They were all about his father, so it might be a touchy subject for him. "Well, my first question is, how well do you know your dad?"

His eyes widened, as I seemed to have caught him off guard.

"Uh…we haven't spoken in a few years so I don't know—"

"That's ok," I said quickly. "Just try to answer as best you can, 'kay?"

"Sure…?"

"So, do you know if your dad has any family other than the people on your mom's side?" I asked.

"No, I think my dad was an orphan or something," Soul said.

"I see," I said. "Then he married into the Evans family?"

Soul nodded. "I think so."

"Did your dad give you and your brother you hair and eye color?" I questioned.

"Well, I definitely didn't get it from my mom," he replied.

I smiled. "Ok, I think I have all the information I need," I said triumphantly. "Soul, sweety, you wouldn't mind if I paid your dad a visit, right?"

"No, not really," he whispered, tired from all the stress of the last two weeks.

I left with the file to go to the mansion and send it back to base. I opened the door and stepped inside towards the living room. As I neared the double-doors that lead to it, I heard sighing and low murmurs coming from inside. I was snapping out from my thoughts and my senses went on high alert.

I pressed my ear to the door, listening for danger.

Though, what I heard was far from any type of danger.

"I don't like it," whispered the voice of my brother.

"I'm so sorry," replied the soft voice of Sharon, his assistant. Though,as of the last few months, they'd become close friends. Maybe even more.

But Sharon sounded close to tears. What was going on? Maybe she was telling him that she was leaving him? Wait, was she _leaving_?! She couldn't do that after she'd made my brother so happy! She couldn't abandon him like that…could she?

But if she really was leaving, then why did _she_ sound so heartbroken?

They both sighed and I decided that I needed to see what was going on. I cracked open the door just enough for me to see the two sitting on the chair conveniently positioned to face the crack in the door. They both had their backs to an armrest and were facing each other. Their legs were tangled together. Her hands were in his hair and his hands were on her cheeks, though they weren't exactly pressed together. Their faces were mere inches apart, however, and they were breathing heavily.

I smiled at the sight, remembering being in a similar position with another man, though we'd been teenagers at the time. We'd been sitting on his bed after breakfast. He'd pulled me close and kissed me gently, as if I were made of porcelain and I might shatter should he be too rough. We'd done this many times before, and it always went the same: he would be gently kissing me at first, then I'd return the gesture, but with more force. Somehow, we'd end up with his hands holding my waist beneath my shirt and my fingers tangled in his hair as we kissed on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Sharon whispered again, pulling me out of my memories. Tears streaked down her face, catching on my brothers fingers.

He shook his head and closed his eyes as he leaned forward. Her eyes fluttered closed as his mouth made contact with hers.

"Joseph," she whispered against his lips. He grunted in acknowledgment and broke the contact, though his eyes were still closed. "Joseph, please don't do this to me," she murmured. "It's not my choice to make. And you can't tell me that it is because—"

She stopped and gasped as he rested his face on her neck while one of his hands slid around her back. My brother pressed her forward so that her torso was against his. I remembered someone mentioning that Sharon usually kept to herself and didn't like much physical contact, which was probably why this freaked her out so much. I hoped she wouldn't get any anxiety and shatter the moment.

_Can we skip the mushy stuff already? _I pleaded in my head. _I want to know why you're both so unhappy. Well, Sharon is unhappy. Not so sure I can say the same for Joey, though…_

"Live with me, then," he said finally. Sharon's eyes shot open and she leaned back, causing Joey to release her.

"What?" she asked breathlessly.

"You heard me," my brother replied in a low voice. "You don't have to go with your parents. i know you hate being with them. You can move in with me."

I smiled and turned silently toward the staircase behind me, thinking of my possible future nieces and nephews running around the small home my brother and I shared. _Looks like I won't be the one who's sharing the room with Joey anymore._

As I skipped up the steps, I became more and more aware of the thick folder I still held in my hands. At the top of the stairs, I stopped to open it. After I scanned through the first few pages of documents and essays, I saw a name that seemed familiar.

_His father, Dylan Evans, did not take a liking to his dark and slightly haunting compositions…_

~Unknown Point of View~

The sweet chime of the doorbell sounded throughout the whole mansion, halting the flawless violin music coming from the next room. The door to the room creaked open to reveal a tall, slender man in a white dress shirt and gray suit pants.

"Were you expecting anyone, Father?" my son asked.

"No, Wes," I replied. "Must be more paparazzi."

Wes sighed. "Should I have Janet send them away?" he asked.

As I opened my mouth to reply, Janet stepped into the room. She had changed uniforms, thankfully, and her black dress and white apron were now free of stains.

"Ah, Janet," I greeted. "Who's at the door?"

Janet fidgeted in discomfort, which was unusual for her. She wasn't one to scare easily and was okay with most things that many others found disturbing.

"Master Evans, there's a young lady at the door asking for—"

"Which young lady?" Wes interrupted. "Is it Sophia?"

I clenched my teeth in disgust at the mention of Wes's girlfriend, who lived in an unsafe neighborhood with too many siblings in a very dirty little apartment. The girl was nice enough but I didn't want anyone using Wes for the family's money like she _clearly_ was. Not that Wes would ever notice.

"No," Janet replied. "She—she says that she needs to speak with you, Master Evans." The maid nodded to me. "She said it was important."

I sighed in exasperation. "Bring her to the living room, Janet," I instructed. "I'll be there in a moment."

I strode into the living room wearing my newest suit, a light gray pinstripe, with my blue tie and a black dress shirt. I looked around, taking in the lovely velvet couches and chairs arranged in a semi-circle around a table facing the flatscreen mounted on the opposite wall.

Sitting on one of the couches and holding a notebook was a woman who looked to be in her very early twenties. She had wavy black hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Two locks of hair were left out to frame her face. A pair of dark-rimmed glasses rested on her nose, making her blue eyes look like they were almost glowing. She wore a flowing white dress with a thin black jacket and matching black flats. A black cross-body purse rested next to her on the sofa cushion.

The woman looked up as I stepped in the room and smiled.

"Hello, Mister Evans," she said with a voice as smooth and sweet as honey. She stood as I walked up to her. "I have a lot of questions for you."

"Pardon me," I growled, "but who are you and why are you here?"

Her eyes widened. "They didn't tell you?" she asked and I shook my head. "Oh, well my name is Cordelia. I'm from _Music Masters_ magazine and they sent me down to interview you for an article on composing?"

I scowled. "Never heard of your magazine," I said in a rude tone, hoping to drive her away. "If you want an interview, you need to call and set up an appointment beforehand. Now get out."

"I apologize for any inconvenience, sir," Cordelia said, smiling, "but, we've been trying to reach you since last month. Unfortunately, you were never available and my bosses got quite fed up, so they sent me down here without much warning."

I raised an eyebrow. How could I not have been notified after these people had been calling for several weeks at _least_? I'd have to have a chat with my manager later about telling me these things.

"Alright, Cordelia," I replied, choosing a seat across from her on a leather recliner. "I'm not doing anything of much importance at the moment. We could the interview now, if you'd like."

"Sounds good," she chuckled and picked up her notebook. Cordelia reached into her purse and brought out a blue ink pen. After she clicked it open, she asked me, "So, tell me, what it was like to grow up in the Evans family?"

My right hand twitched and I felt the blood drain from my face. I hadn't been born an Evans. I had grown up much farther away than I cared to remember.

"I—it was…difficult to grow up with such a strict family of musicians," I lied. "But it all worked out in the end, as you can see."

Cordelia nodded as she scribbled words down on the page. "Okay," she paused before stopping and looking back up at me. "So tell me about how you met your wife—Scarlett, I believe it was? Did you meet her during a rehearsal or a concert? She's a violist, right?"

I smiled. Now this was a topic I could speak easily about. "We met in a theater," I explained as my interviewer started to write again. "She was the lead viola player for an orchestra that was playing the accompaniment for the opera I was attending."

Cordelia smiled as she continued to screw on the sheet.

"Which opera?" she asked.

"It was one that they'd recently rediscovered the script for, at the time. _I due Figaro_."

"The two Figaros?" she asked.

"Yes," I confirmed. "Do you speak Italian?"

"Yes, and several other languages. I'm usually working as a translator when we talk to foreign musicians," Cordelia explained. "Anyway, next question: are you an only child or did you have siblings?"

An image of a little red-headed girl in a pink sundress laughing as she held out a handful of edelweiss flowers popped into my head.

"No," I snapped. "I thought this was an article on composition."

Cordelia seemed startled by my sudden change in behavior. "Um, y—yes i—it is," she stuttered, "but if you'd said yes, I was supposed to ask if any of the people in your life inspired your music…"

"Oh," I breathed, caught off-guard. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. You'd be surprised how many people have similar reactions. Now, lets go to the next question…uh, so a lot of your newest songs have some type of tie to myths and religious figures. Could you explain to me about that?"

"Ah, yes, well, I liked to read mythology and such in high school, which is when I started working with original composition," I explained. "However, I never got these songs released until recently, since I had to fix some amateurish mistakes after I found the sheet music in my desk files."

Cordelia stopped writing and placed her notebook facedown on the table, smirking at me.

"_Liar_," she growled, smirking triumphantly.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked, hoping I'd misheard.

"Mister Evans, I'm no fool," she informed. "That was sloppy of you, Dylan, not changing your first name and marrying into a famous family when you knew we had ways to find you. Did you really think we wouldn't, after you practically begged for us to? Look around you, Dylan. This is not exactly _inconspicuous_." She waved her hand, gesturing to the room we were in, and ultimately the estate itself.

My mouth hung open. "Who are you?" I croaked, my voice beginning to fail me as fear turned my blood to ice.

Cordelia threw her head back and laughed. "Dylan, my boy, I work for your sister," she said, smirking sinisterly. "Did you know that your sister joined the military? Did you know that she's head of the Angels now? Did you know that she and I are sisters-in-arm and that she assigned me to locate you and bring you home because she trusts that I will _get the job done_?"

The image of the little girl popped back into my head before morphing into the picture of a tall woman holding a curved, bloody dagger in her hand as fire encased the landscape, scorching the ground. Bodies lay at her feet, groaning in pain as they bled their lives away. Edelweisses were braided into her long, shimmering hair.

"G—get out," I whispered, pointing shakily to the door.

Cordelia put her hand on her chin and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Mmmm, how aboooooout," she drawled, "not a chance in hell."

"You can't take me away," I hissed. "You're not allowed to take me against my will."

The girl smiled innocently. "Oh, don't be silly, Dylan," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm not going to force you to come with me. I'm going to give you the _option_ of coming with me."

"If I refuse?" I asked. There was always a catch with these people. That's partially why I'd left.

The young woman stopped smiling and leaned back in her chair. "It's your choice, in the end. But if you stay in your home for too long, a fire might start while your wife is sitting and listening to your son play his little violin in the sitting room and they just might…well, you get the picture," she explained casually. It was as if she threatened people on a normal basis. She made it sound like this situation was as simple as saying that there's nothing she could do about his choice and that she and her people would leave me in peace.

I swallowed. "How long would I be gone?"

"That depends on your siblings," Cordelia responded.

"_Siblings_?" I asked incredulously. "Then Carrie isn't the only one who's still around?"

Cordelia smiled sympathetically and shook her head. "Of course she isn't," she informed. "You didn't think they'd all just drop dead from losing you, did you?"

"N—no, of course not," I responded. "But I'd at least thought that they'd been _affected_ by my absence."

Cordelia rolled her eyes and laughed. "Of course they were, you idiot," she teased. "How could they not be? They were all depressed for months!"

"I—I see," I whispsered. "And…now are they all doing well?"

"Well, they talk about you a lot, from what I know. They still miss you, but they're all married now, so none of them are particularly lonely," she explained. "Not that ten brothers and a sister can _be_ too lonely. On top of it, I think they all have at least one kid, so they're fairly occupied most of the time as is. Well, your sister doesn't have kids, but she's got a country to run, so it's fairly understandable."

My heart swelled with joy for my brothers, and fell for my sister, who had lost the ability to have children when she joined the Angels. But she had made her choice. I was just glad that I'd be able to see them all once more. Maybe they could all meet Wes too! I wished they could've met Soul, but it seemed that my youngest had inherited a certain trait from me: running away from home at age eleven and never looking back. Why he had left was beyond me, of course, since I'd never had any type of issues with my family.

"Soul ran away for a reason," Cordelia said out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked, startled.

"Well, see, I know you're thinking about your brothers and sister meeting Wes, since I mentioned kids," she explained. "Thoughts like that will inevitably revert to Soul, so you would be wondering why he ran away. Since you're too blind to see his reasons for yourself, I'll spell it out for you."

I nodded, unsure whether to be shocked at her deduction skills or offended that she'd called me blind.

"Wes is something of a prodigy, correct?" she asked.

"Yes," I responded. "He's a professional concert violinist."

"And you made your pride very clear to everyone in the household at the time when he began to show such talent?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I did," I snorted. "I'm a parent. It's kind of in the job description to brag about your kid."

Cordelia's lip twitched up in what I could only guess was annoyance. "Yes, well, how did you praise Soul when he learned to start composing, if you praised him at all?" she continued.

"I—" I stopped, knowing the answer to the question I'd been asking myself for four years. "Are you trying to say that my son left because he had an _inferiority complex_ with his _brother _because he didn't get _praised_?!" I fumed. "Of all the ridiculous excuses, you just had to—"

"If you don't believe me," she interrupted, holding up a hand to stop me, "you could always go ask him. Though, I wouldn't recommend doing it any time soon." Cordelia bit her lip. "He's…having a bit of a rough time."

Fear for my son's well-being rose up in me. "What's wrong with him?" I demanded.

"Anyway, that's not the only reason he left," she pressed on, ignoring my question. "He also left because of all the negative attention he got from you and Scarlett. Whenever he'd write a new piece, you two criticized and insulted the music _and_ his tastes. When it comes to your son leaving you behind for a life of danger, the fault is yours. And Scarlett's, of course."

Cordelia stood and spun, shoving her pen back into her cross-body after clicking it shut. "Good day, Mister Evans," she said quietly, sadness in her voice. "I'll be back to collect you tomorrow morning at six A.M. sharp." The woman started to stride confidently towards the door. When she had her hand on the knob, she turned. "And Cordelia is an alias," she said sharply. "Address me by my codename: Raven."

Cor—no, Raven—turned the silver knob and swept gracefully out of the room. I sat still in my chair, dumbfounded.

So it was my fault after all…

Guilt churned in my gut as I wondered how I could've possibly not seen this before, or why Wes, who was usually so observant, hadn't told me. I had driven my son away. It was all my fault that Soul had chosen to embrace the part of him that was a weapon and not that of a musician. I took a few shaky breaths in an attempt to calm down.

Wait.

Hadn't Raven mentioned something was wrong with Soul? As I shot up out of the recliner, I noticed that Raven had left her notebook on the table. I reached for it and turned it over. On the first page, in beautiful, shimmery blue ink, was a message:

_He is about to lose the girl he loves._

I sat up in bed the next morning, my mind sluggish from an uneasy sleep. The thick velvet curtains were still open, since I'd forgotten to close them that night. I glanced outside to see that the sky was still dark and glanced at the clock on my nightstand to see that the time read three-eighteen. I sighed and sat up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. I heard Scarlett stir beside me, followed by a groan.

"Dylan," she whispered. "Sweetheart, are you alright?" Her warm hand rested on my shoulder and I whipped around to face her. "Why are you up so early? I thought you didn't need to leave until six."

"Scarlett, I—" I broke off as thoughts of Soul came back into my head. Tears formed in my eyes. That's right, I hadn't told Scarlett yet, had I?

"It's all my fault," I whispered, weakly trying to explain.

"Dylan, come here," she murmured, curving her hands around my neck and pulling me closer. I dragged my legs back up on the comforter and reached for my wife. "Dylan, love, what's wrong?" she asked, pulling me down to fall on the mattress and pillows.

"It's my fault," I muttered. "It's all my fault."

Scarlett chuckled and ran her arms down my back, which wasn't very fair of her since she knew it distracted me.

"What is, my love?" she asked as I pressed my nose to hers. "What do you think is your fault?"

"He—" I hiccuped, "Soul left and it's my fault," I gasped out.

Scarlett stiffened. "D—don't be ridiculous," she laughed nervously. "Soul wanted to be a weapon, that's all." She didn't sound as sure as she'd meant to.

I shook my head. "It's my fault. It's all my fault. All of it," I whispered.

"It is not your fault!" Scarlett shouted, sitting upright and turning on the lamp as the tears streaked down my face. I shut my eyes at the bright light and rested my head in my wife's lap. She began to stroke my hair comfortingly. It calmed me after a few moments and I propped myself up on my elbow.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I had the chance, the bedroom door flew open to reveal Wes, in all his snow-man-pajama clad glory, in the doorway.

"What happened?!" he asked urgently.

I sniffed and wiped my face with the back of my hand as I sat up. "Nothing, Wes. Go back to bed," I instructed.

Scarlett shushed me and beckoned Wes to come forward. "Your father is convinced," she began slowly, "that it's his fault that your brother left."

Wes sighed. "Took you long enough to figure it out," he muttered. "And it was you too, Mother, not just Father."

Scarlett put her hands on her hips and scowled. I knew that she was about to try to scold Wes.

"Excuse me, young man, but—"

"Scarlett, he's right," I whispered, interrupting.

Her jaw dropped. "But, I…he…Oh, Dylan!" she cried and threw her arms around me. I quickly kissed her neck and she squeezed me tightly, shaking her head against my chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wes come over and wrap his arms around us.

Scarlett turned to her eldest and asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you," he replied. "You needed to realize it for yourselves."

I nodded. "Our boy is right, as always," I said, turning to Wes. "You may want to turn around for a moment."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but as I reached my hand up to caress Scarlett's cheek, he quickly got the message and shut his eyes. I pressed my mouth to her's as shivers ran up her spine.

Wes groaned from beside us and I chuckled. "Nice to know that we can still give you a few scarring memories at your age," I mumbled against Scarlett, making Wes groan more.

"Please stop," he muttered unhappily as my wife pushed me away.

"You're going to make my poor boy suffer much more than you need to!" she complained, sniffling.

Wes staggered to his feet, covering his eyes with his hands. "I think I'm going to go back to bed now," he informed as he stumbled to the door.

"Awww, my poor baby," Scarlett cooed, which only encouraged Wes to pick up speed.

He gave a hastily "good night" and closed the door softly behind him. I sighed, tugging at Scarlett's nightgown in an attempt to pull her closer.

"Scarlett?" I asked. She hummed in response. "I have to get on the plane for my business trip in a couple of hours," I breathed in her ear making her shudder, "so there's no point in going back to bed. Want to stay up with me and talk?"

Suddenly, I was pushed back against the mountain of pillows by the headboard of the bed, Scarlett kissing me softly. Her hands squeezed my shoulders tightly as if I'd run away if she let go.

"I love you, you know," I whispered when she stopped to take a breath. A smile graced her face and I pulled her back down into a kiss.

So much for talking.

"You ready, Evans?" Raven asked as she leaned her back against the black limo. I'd found her here only about fifteen minutes prior with the car. She was wearing a chauffeur uniform and saying that she was his "replacement driver" for the day. "You look kinda…tired," she commented.

"Yes," I responded, rubbing an eye as Janet loaded my luggage into the trunk, "well, I've been awake for a few hours now so…"

"Why on earth have you been up for so long?" she asked. "It's six in the morning."

"Yes, I'm aware," I muttered irritatedly. "Are we ready to go?"

Raven nodded. "Ya, sure. Sit and we'll go."

I did as I was told and soon, the vehicle was moving away from my home. I saw Scarlett closing the drapes in the bedroom but stopped to wave goodbye. I waved back with a smile. When the car was far enough that she was out of sight, I closed the window and opened the small window between the limo's seats and the driver's.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"Well, first," she began, glancing back at him as they exited the property, "we're going to switch cars."

"And then?"

"Then we are going to head to Nevada so I can pick up a friend," she replied. "After that, we can take you to see your family."

**Haru: So how'd you like it?**

**Soul: Wait, so my dad is related to witches?!**

**Haru: *exasperated sigh* Yes, moron. I just went to great lengths to explain that.**

**Soul: *glaring* So…I'm part…witch?**

**Haru: Your dad is just related to a witch. That doesn't mean he ****_is_**** one.**

**Maka: At first when I read the title of the chapter, I thought it meant I was going to be taken. Glad I wasn't.**

**Soul: Me too.**

**Maka: You're only saying that because you want to kiss me!**

**Soul: Wait I never said-**

**Maka: MAKA-CHOP! *Maka-chops Soul with encyclopedia***

**Haru: *laughing in corner* Okay then, lovely readers! Until next time!**


	8. Departure

**Haru: I GOT FEEDBACK! *triumphant music***

**Soul: *rolls eyes* That's very nice but can we get on with the story?**

**Haru: *glares* Not until I remind everyone that I still need translators for some phrases in Italian and Japanese.**

**Maka: So…can we get on with it?**

**Haru: Oh, ya sure, let's do it.**

_Recap: After giving Soul a few more days with a comatose-state Maka, Raven has learned that Soul's father, Dylan Evans, is actually her sister-in-arms' brother. She seeks him out and has him come with her to meet up with his brothers and sister again._

~Ari's Point of View~

I liked Shibusen. I really did. It had a layout that was simple enough for you to memorize your way around, but it was also complicated and large enough for you to get lost if you didn't know one hallway from another. Unfortunately, due to an OCD Shinigami, all the doors were identical, the stone walls were all perfectly smooth, and the tile floors sparkled from how clean they were. Without the subtle details like, for example, a door with a scratch, some graffiti painted on the walls, or even a scuff mark from a roller backpack made the memorization difficult.

At my old school, the one I'd attended before leaving to become Raven's apprentice, flaws like those were common. I knew which classroom was run by which teacher and where which classes were held where, all by those marks.

Knowing all of this, it's almost expected that it took a lot of time for me to wander to the bathroom then back to the infirmary, where I'd been initially. Raven had dropped me off just at the end of lunch so that she could get something from the white-haired boy. He'd been about to leave the infirmary to go to some lecture hall for a lesson with some professor that Raven was evidently pissed at. I assumed that she didn't want anybody in the room with me and Maka so that I could be with her without interruption. Maybe she thought that the boy, Maka's partner, might hurt me because of my relation to the whole taking-away-Maka-for-the-rest-of-her-life thing.

I'd stayed with the girl who'd been caught in the crossfire between Nessa, Jessica, and Dove's chase. I'd been by her side for a few hours, wondering what had possessed me to want to be in the same room as her. It's not that I didn't like her or anything, it was just that the situation was so damn depressing that I wanted to avoid those being affected by it as much as possible.

About a half hour before classes were supposed to end for the day, nature called. I walked past the restroom in the infirmary, knowing that I might puke from the smell of disinfectant if I stayed any longer. It took me a good fifteen minutes to find the student bathrooms, and another ten to find a way back.

By the time I reentered the room, Maka was red-faced and sweaty. Acting on instinct alone, I grabbed the empty bowl and towel that were on the nightstand and ran to the infirmary bathroom to fill the bowl halfway with water. I speed-walked back to the nightstand and put the bowl down to soak the towel. I pulled the towel out of the bowl and twisted it to get rid of excess water before placing it on Maka's forehead. As I moved my hand away to go get one of the teachers, my finger brushed the skin on the girl's check and waves of painful heat rushed through me.

My head snapped up and I stared at the ceiling as I gasped and waited for the pain to end, my fingertips still against the meister's damp skin. Vivid images, mostly of the boy with the white hair, rushed through my head. They were probably memories of Maka's. Suddenly, it all stopped and froze on an image of the albino boy sleeping very, _very_ close to Maka. Everything whirled by and I blinked, finding myself standing next to the edge of a bed. A light shone on it from a window floating in black nothingness behind me. The same dark, empty space surrounded the bed so that nothing but the bed and the light from the window could be seen. I looked down to find that my body was blue and translucent so that the light passed through me.

_So _this_ is what it's like to be inside a memory_, I thought to myself, happy that I'd been able to achieve a feat as difficult as unconsciously casting a spell to look at a memory.

Suddenly, I heard a groan coming from the bed and looked down to find that there were two people tangled in the sheets. Facing me on the far side of the bed was the sleeping form of the white-haired boy. The other, with her back to me as she sat up, was Maka. I leaned around her to look at her face: delicate nose, high cheek bones, creamy skin, and stunning green eyes. I'd never seen her eyes before now, since she was in a coma-like state at the moment, and was surprised to find that she had green eyes instead of blue ones like her dad and most other blondes.

As Maka stood and stretched, I backed up to give her space, even though she probably wouldn't be able to touch me since I was just watching a memory play out. Her blue spaghetti-strap pajama shirt went up to reveal more pale skin and the gray trim of her shorts.

"Maka," a gruff voice said groggily, "you're warm. Come back."

I looked past Maka to see that it was her weapon partner who had spoken.

Maka rolled her eyes and turned back around.

"Soul, quit being annoying and sleep," she ordered.

_So his name is Soul, huh?_ I thought. _That's a…unique name._

Soul groaned. "Maka…" he drawled. "Please?"

"Soul, you're sick," she said calmly as she sat down on the edge of the bed and reached over to stroke his hair. "You should go back to sleep."

Soul reached up and grabbed her wrist.

"Maka, I'm cold," he whispered as he shuddered, emphasizing his point.

Maka sighed. "I'll make you some tea," she replied, shaking off his hand and standing. "After that, I need to start packing so we can go home."

"I don't want you to pack yet," he whined. "Just five more minutes?"

Maka sighed again and pulled the covers back. "Five minutes, Soul," she said as she slipped under the blanket. She moved closer to him and pulled the sheets up to their chins. Soul nuzzled her neck as his arms snaked themselves around her waist. Maka's arms went around him in return and soon enough, they were sound asleep.

The image faded into black. As suddenly as the pain and heat all started, it ended and I collapsed on the floor of the infirmary next to Maka's bed. My eyes shut themselves tight and my jaw clenched as the leftover pain slowly eased to a dull ache. I wasn't sure how long I laid there for, but at one point I was vaguely aware of noises such as the bell ringing and, a few minutes later, the door opening. Then footsteps sounded and suddenly, someone was shaking me.

"Hey, are you ok?" asked a deep voice. I blinked my eyes open and the shaking stopped. In front of my face was none other than Soul.

"Y-ya, I'm fine," I croaked. Soul stood and offered me his hand. I took it and got up, brushing myself off. "Thanks. I'm Ari, by the way."

"No problem," he responded, pulling up a chair and sitting next to Maka's bed. "I'm Soul. Mind telling me why you were on the floor?"

"Oh, um, well, you see," I stopped, not completely sure what to say. "I don't really know how to explain."

"Okay," Soul drawled in confusion. "Can you at least tell me why you're in the infirmary?"

I gulped, unsure of whether or not my answer would get my run through with a blade.

"I just wanted to see Maka," I whispered.

Soul's eyes widened slightly and his jaw went slack. "Oh, um, that was…not what I expected," Soul replied. "Though, I don't know why I didn't think of it. You're with Raven, right?"

I laughed nervously. "Ya, um," I paused, seeing Soul's hand clasp Maka's. "D—do you want me to go or…?"

"Huh? Oh no you're fine," he said, shaking his head. I glanced back down to his hand and he followed my gaze. Soul stiffened slightly and cleared his throat as he pulled his hand away.

"So, uh, why did you want to see Maka?" he asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

I smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was just a feeling I had," I murmured.

Soul raised an eyebrow. "What kind of feeling?" he asked.

"I'm not sure exactly," I replied honestly. "I just kinda had this feeling that I had to come see her."

As Soul opened his mouth to reply, the door burst open. We both looked over to see Phoenix and Dove stalk into the room.

"Soul," Dove began softly, "we need you to leave until tomorrow."

"Wait, what? Why?" he asked.

"Soul," Phoenix started, a warning tone to her voice. "Just go please. We need to get Maka ready."

"Ready for what?" the weapon whispered.

"You already know the answer to that, Soul," Dove whispered back, bending over to place her hand on his shoulder. Soul nodded mutely.

"Ari," Phoenix beckoned me forward, "would you be so kind as to help Soul get home?"

"Of course," I answered, placing a hand on Soul's shoulder and leading him from the room.

Some students were still in the halls as we passed by, since the day's classes had only just ended. Some gave sympathetic glances to Soul, others heart-eyed stares, and a select few turned to whisper to their friends as we passed.

By the time we had gotten to the top of the huge staircase at the front of the school, Soul still hadn't spoken a word. Maybe he'd just been waiting until they got outside so nobody could eavesdrop? Not too many students were outside, as most of them might've had extra classes or maybe they were just reluctant to walk down all the stairs after the long hours of learning.

As we started to walk down the steps, I glanced at Soul and asked, "So, do you think you'll be ok to drive your bike home?"

Soul shook his head without questioning how I knew that he drove a motorcycle to get around. After a few minutes of tense silence, the albino murmured something that I didn't quite catch.

"What was that, Soul?" I asked.

"I was asking why your hair is like that," he muttered.

"M—my hair?" I reached up to grab a lock of hair and ran it between my fingers. It felt fine to me. I wondered what Soul could be referring to.

He seemed to notice my confusion. "The color is strange," he clarified. "Did you dye it?"

"The color?" I asked. "It's black."

"It has gray in it," Soul responded.

"Oh," I said in surprise. "Well, I didn't dye it."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "Then why is it like that?" he asked. "It doesn't look very normal."

I sighed. "It's not," I replied. "It's from mass amounts of stress."

Soul's eyes widened. "_All_ of it? What does Raven _do_ to you? There's so much! I didn't think you could even have so much gray hair until you were old."

"My parents aren't…ideal," I muttered bitterly.

"Raven can't be that bad," Soul whispered, more to himself than me. "She seems nice enough."

"Raven isn't my mother," I snapped. "My mother isn't even _half_ of what Raven is."

"Is your mom that bad?" Soul asked.

I nodded in response, looking to the horizon to see the sun laughing down at us.

"Well, damn. What did she do to you?"

"Well," I began, "she disowned me at birth and raised me to be a butler, basically."

Soul stopped and grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to a halt. "Parents aren't like that," he growled angrily. But I could tell he wasn't angry at me, he was angry at my mother. "Nobody has a kid just to—"

"I had a twin sister," I interrupted. "She's only a few minutes younger, but my parents still didn't want their oldest child to be a boy. It's considered a bit of a taboo to have a first-born son, so they legally disowned me and raised me in what was _supposed_ to be a coat closet in the kitchen."

Soul's grip on my shoulder tightened, making me wince.

"Can I tear them to shreds?" he growled savagely.

I burst into laughter at the thought of Soul meeting my parents. They'd probably scold him for trying to hurt them and make him cook dinner and dust the shelves in the library. As I explained this to Soul in between laughs and giggles, he began to smile too.

"So is this sister nice or what?" the albino asked after I'd calmed down.

I scoffed. "Not at all," I replied calmly. "She always tells me that I'm not her brother and to stay away from her at school."

"Even at school, huh?" Soul asked, sitting down on the steps.

"Ya," I replied. "You know, I was so surprised to see that your school looked so clean and safe."

"Really?" he asked as I took a seat on the step below his.

I nodded. "My old school used to be covered in graffiti and you were treated with extreme prejudice if you were poor. You were practically royalty if you were the child of at least one first-class citizen, though, as far as staff was concerned. That being my only experience with schools, I wasn't sure which is more of a _normal_ school. Shibusen is kept clean but has an…unusual architectural design and serves an even more unusual purpose."

Soul grunted in acknowledgement. "So which category did you fall under?" he asked me quietly. "I mean, was your family richer?"

"My parents and family were very rich, but I was nothing to them, so I was something of a medium," I explained. "Just about everyone left me alone. Until Raven started pulling me out of class for training, at least."

Soul paused. "Pulled you out of class?"

"Ya. She started with training me after school, but after a little while she started to say that the lessons would get harder and I'd need more time to study and practice with spells, so she started to pull me out of class."

"Is that even allowed?"

"Soul, in our community, the military is a huge deal," I elaborated. "So if one of the elites that works directly under the heads of the government takes an interest in you, nobody is going to just ignore it."

"Raven works for the government?" Soul asked.

"She works for ours. Our little country is entirely independent. We don't belong to the other countries, since there are so many witches in it. Nobody really wants to have to deal with us," I told the albino. "We have our own government and military and stuff."

"Huh. Ok, so, you start skipping classes and then what?" Soul pressed.

"Um, well, some kids started to actually stop and talk with me for a bit, my teacher started to hate me even more, and the principal was terrified of me. There was this one girl, though, who actually hung out with me when I had spare time." I stopped, thinking back to quiet afternoons and early evenings spent under a tree talking with the girl. "Her name was Donaji."

"Donaji?" Soul asked. "Is that Hindi?"

"No idea," I chuckled. "Anyway, after that, I was gone more and more until I just dropped out completely."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," I replied. "Then, Raven and I were training one day and she offered to walk me home. I was surprised, since she never wanted me to get in trouble with my parents for dragging her with me. I couldn't refuse if she requested it, of course, so when we got to my place, while I went inside the back way like I normally did, she actually went _around_ the house to the front door and rang the bell."

Soul laughed. "So Raven comes to your house, leaves you at the back, and goes to the front and rings the _doorbell_?" he asked. "Why didn't she just come in with you?"

"I guess it's more formal to go from the front door and actually, you know, alert the household that there's a guest," I explained. "So my parents brought her in and she sat down with them and they started to talk. My mom started shouting, then my dad did too, and after a few minutes, Raven said something that shut them up. I was on the next floor so I couldn't really tell what they were saying. So then Raven comes in with this big smile on her face and asks if I liked training with her.

"I said yes and then she asked if I knew her sister. I was _beyond_ confused at that point but answered anyways. When I told her that, no, I didn't know her sister, she told me to go to my room and pack my stuff. I didn't really own anything that I wanted to keep, so she just took me by the hand and stood with me as I said goodbye to my family and we left. I've been with her ever since. Haven't seen my family in months." I smiled, imagining how much chaos the house must have been in without me to help the other maids and butlers with all the chores.

"Really? I haven't seen my family in a few _years_," Soul said.

"Are—are you kidding?" I asked.

"Nope," he replied nonchalantly, leaning back on one of the steps behind him and looking up at the sky, "and it's been great."

"Was your family that bad?" I asked softly.

Soul nodded. "Not as bad as yours though," he muttered. "Still, they were annoying and insensitive assholes."

"What'd they do to you?" I asked. "I mean, you guys were musicians, right? I would _kill_ to grow up surrounded by such beautiful music."

"Ya, well," Soul sighed, "it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, after a while," Soul sighed again, "they want you to start composing your own music—it's not just about _playing_ an instrument anymore. They want you to freaking master it or something and compose this too-predictable music. You don't actually get the freedom to surprise them with a different music style."

"Oh," I said.

That was all I seemed able to say. I'd read Soul's file before and I knew exactly what he was referring to. He was talking about his parents and how they constantly criticized his pieces because they were "too dark" or something stupid like that. Though, when I took a look at the sheet music, I'd been blown away at how complicated it all was. Notes and dynamic markings covered the pages, there were spots where you had to push specific pedals at alarming rates, and on one or two pieces, there were thirty-second notes. And this had all been written by a child!

His parents couldn't see the brilliance though, and he was put through enough pain and discomfort that he ran away, embracing his weapon half. Soul took his first transformation as a gift and even as an excuse to leave his life in New York behind. All because he'd been in agony from so much criticism and he had felt such overwhelming sadness that he could only be second-best to his older brother.

I'd always imagined that kids who grew up in rich families had no right to feel sad or depressed because they could have anything they could want just by asking. Whereas others had to really work and _suffer_ for what they wanted and needed. But Soul, no, he hated his life. He hated the pampering and being treated like something he wasn't. If he didn't hate it, he wouldn't have come to Death City. He could have put up with any string of harsh words that the people around him threw his way and then submerged himself in a hot tub with a girl on each arm (only as he got a bit older, though) if he wanted to remain spoiled.

But he didn't like it after all. And here we were, talking on the stairs as he suffered from losing someone who hadn't even gone yet. This was a Death Scythe who'd suffered through a lot of pain just to save people he didn't know. And he accomplished it all without complaint.

"But you're here now," I said. "And you have great friends and a great partner. I know this sounds cheesy and all, Soul, but _they_ are your family now."

"Except that," Soul interrupted as I opened my mouth again to speak more, his voice cracking, "you and Raven are going to take my Maka from me."

I nodded, biting my lip. "None of us are exactly happy about it," I informed him. "But leaving Maka here could have catastrophic results, Soul. After all, if a soul like that—such a potentially _powerful_—"

"Potentially?" Soul whispered. "What do you mean?"

_Shit_, I hissed internally. _Tell me I did _not_ just let that slip._

"Soul…we didn't want to get your hopes up," I began slowly, closing my words carefully. "Maka…her soul, while it is—while it has wings, it might just be that she—well, let's just say that it could be that she isn't really Angel-level material after all."

"What?" Soul croaked. "So, after all of this, Maka might not even be…"

"Yes, but that's a one-in-a-million chance," I said. "It could be that her soul has wings, not because she's meant to be an Angel, but because her mom had an anti-demon wavelength or whatever, and her dad is a Death Scythe."

"So I might not lose her after all!" Soul shot up from where he say and started pacing on the steps in front of me.

"Soul—" I started, only to be interrupted.

"This is amazing!" he continued. "I mean, I don't believe it."

"Soul—"

"Even though Raven said that Maka would need to stay at her facility for the rest of her life in order for her to live, that was just a lie to convince me that Maka couldn't stay with me, right? It all makes perfect sense now!"

"Soul, you really need to lis—"

"So she just didn't want me to get hurt after all. This is amazing! I have to go tell everybody the good—"

"Soul!" I shouted, attracting the attention of a few students walking down the stairway.

Soul stopped pacing and crouched down in front of me. "Ya, what?" he asked, glancing at the students, who were staring at us.

"Soul," I whispered, "Maka is most likely an Angel, okay? And when we take her you will probably never see her again. Scratch that—you _will_ _never_ see her again."

As Soul's face fell, a pang of guilt hit me. After all, Soul had been through enough and he didn't deserve having someone as precious to him as Maka—who was more precious to him than his own life, evidently—taken away. He didn't really need me tell him any of this, he'd find out on his own eventually. However, I couldn't just let him go through life wondering when his beloved partner would come back to him.

"I'm sorry, Soul," I said, wondering if I'd been a bit too harsh, "but you weren't supposed to know that she might not be an Angel. You were supposed to know that you'd never see her again. Because over thousands of years, Soul, only three or four people have been mistakenly thought to be Angels. What are the odds of Maka being another one of those few?"

Soul stood there, thinking for a few minutes. Then he sighed and sat down, resting his head in his hands.

"Why her?" he murmured. "What did she ever do?"

Sympathy was taking hold and forcing out my next words. "She has done nothing. You have done nothing. This is just the way things work, Soul." The weapon looked up at me and opened his mouth to speak, but I held up a hand to stop him. "Soul, I think the best thing for you to do right now is go home and rest."

The white-haired teen nodded and started walking down the steps. After watching him walk down a considerable number of steps, I turned and began to walk back to the infirmary.

"Hey there, Ari," Phoenix greeted as I stepped into Maka's room. The witch was standing over the girl in the bed, a thoughtful look twisting her features. "You been comforting Soul?"

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"Good," she said. "He's going to need it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, other than obvious reasons, why?" I asked.

Phoenix turned to me, looking amused. "Well, we're taking Maka away tomorrow morning, of course," she explained, waving her hand dismissively.

I got up extra early the next morning, taking care to check and see if Raven was awake yet. Strangely, she wasn't even home. Her bed hadn't been disturbed all night either. Maybe Catalina knew where her mother was.

"Catalina!" I shouted from Raven's room. "Where's your mom?"

The little girl came running into the room, wearing a white nightgown.

"Is she ok?" Catalina asked.

"Knowing your mom," I sighed, "she's just fine. I wanted to know where she is. I can't seem to find her."

"Oh," Catalina giggled, "that's because she went to look for Aunty's brother."

"Who's brother are we looking for?" asked a low voice from the doorway.

I looked up to see Raven's brother, Joseph, walking into the room. He wore a thick gray robe, leaving the belt undone to expose his bare chest and navy pajama pants. As he raised his arms to stretch, his stomach muscles tensed slightly, making his six-pack visible.

"It seems," I began slowly, hoping not to anger him with the news, "that Raven has gone to look for Lady Carson's brother."

"Oh," the man yawned. "Ok, since it's nothing too serious, I guess I'm just gonna go back to bed."

"So," I turned back to Catalina, "you have no idea when she'll be back?"

"Nope," the child replied cheerily, smiling and waving her hand dismissively.

I nodded to her and soon left the house, making a beeline for Shibusen. I had to get there and tell Soul that he needed to say goodbye. I wasn't sure how the boy would take it, but I knew it wouldn't be good.

"Soul!" I shouted, running towards the albino as he was about to enter the lecture hall for homeroom. "Soul, wait up!"

Souls stopped and turned, moving against the wall to allow other students to enter the hall. "Hey, Ari," he greeted with a stoic expression as I stopped in front of him, panting. "Everything okay?"

"Um…" I wasn't sure how to respond. No, things weren't okay, but I couldn't just say out of the blue that Maka could be leaving at any given minute. "Actually…I, uh need to talk to you."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "Ya, sure, what's up?" he asked.

I took a deep breath to steady me breathing and mentally prepared myself to brake the news to him.

"Let's go outside," I suggested.

He shrugged and walked next to me as we went outside the school. We reached the top of the huge staircase and sat down. Wind blew around us, causing Soul's hair to wave around wildly.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked. "And try to make it quick. I've gotta get to class or Stein will give me detention."

I nodded, my speech fully prepared. "Soul" I began, "I know that these last few days have been hard on you, but what I'm going to tell you just might crush you completely." I paused, waiting for a reaction. When the only thing Soul did was shift a bit to better face me, I continued. "Yesterday after you went home, I went back to the infirmary. Phoenix was there and she—she told me that Raven was preparing to take Maka away. Today. And soon."

I stiffened, waiting for Soul to erupt in anger. However, the only thing that happened was that his jaw dropped and he took a breath, readying himself to say something. A car horn, honking obnoxiously, stopped him. I looked to the streets nearest the school and noticed a big black car parked parallel to the school only a block away.

I recognized the pattern of sounds which the car made. It was morse code. I quickly hushed Soul as he began to complain (using some very colorful language) and listened, translating the pattern in my head.

_That's two dashes and a dot for "G", then a single dot for "E", a single dash for "T", seven dots for a space between two words, two dashes for "M", three dashes for "O", three dots and a dash for "V", two dots for "I", a dash and a dot for "N", another two dashes and dot for "G"…_

The message was "get moving", but what in the world did that mean?

"Ari!" the voice of Phoenix boomed from one of the school's balconies. "Come help me with Maka!"

Soul's eyes widened immediately and he shot across the courtyard. I quickly got up and ran after him.

~Soul's Point of View~

As I sat on my couch, the only thing going through my head was: She was gone.

Maka was gone and it had taken mere moments for me to break down. Thoughts rushed through my head at the speed of light. I wondered if I'd ever see Maka again or what would happen to me without her. Would I have to get a new partner to work with when I wasn't helping Kid? That question was enough to make me dizzy and nauseas.

The memory of Maka's departure suddenly started playing over and over again in my head.

I'd held my partner's hand as Phoenix and Dove carried her to the car that'd been honking like mad only moments before. It didn't take much time for us to reach the vehicle. Phoenix, who had been holding Maka's shoulders, opened the back door and slid inside, leaving my meister in Dove's arms. Dove lifted Maka bridal-style and placed her inside next to Phoenix in a sitting position. Once Maka was buckled in, Dove turned back to me and apologized, hugging me and telling me to go home and take the week off of school.

Then I heard Maka moan from inside the car. My nerves went crazy, tingling as if my body had just woken up after my circulation had been cut off. I reached for her, mumbling something even _I_ didn't understand. Dove grabbed me and held me back as I struggled, calling Maka's name. Phoenix reached across Maka's body and shut the door, saying something to Dove in what I assumed was Russian.

Then the car sped off, leaving me struggling in Dove's arms. Eventually I gave up, my knees buckled, and I fell to the ground. The witch picked me up and, in a shower of light, transported me home. We appeared in the living room and she set me down on the couch, leaving me to my thoughts.

**Haru: So…what did you think?**

**Soul: HOW COULD YOU?!**

**Haru: *rolls eyes* You're only mad 'cause you never got to kiss Maka.**

**Soul: *blushes***

**Maka: Hey look he's blushing! *laughs* **

**Kid: So…did any of us know about the witches taking Maka? I don't remember seeing anyone other than Soul show any concern that Maka was leaving.**

**Maka: YOU GUYS JUST DON'T CARE!**

**Haru: Actually, none of you wanted to kiss Maka as badly as Soul does—DID I MEANT TO SAY DID.**

**Soul: …I hate you…**

**Haru: Anyways, this is not the end of the story, in case you were confused by that.**

**Soul: BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?**

**Haru: YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT, DAMN IT!**


	9. Mary

**Haru: So I'm feeling very evil at the moment…**

**Soul: …crap…**

**Haru: …So any who, I got more feedback HAHAHAHA *very happy, obviously* So, because of my good mood, I'm going to make Maka a goddess! *lies***

**Kid: It's not polite to lie to your readers, Haru.**

**Haru: THAT'S ****_LORD_**** HARU TO YOU!**

**Soul: Lord?**

**Haru: DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL MAKA?!**

**Soul: NO I'LL CALL YOU LORD JUST DON'T!**

**Liz: *examining nails* Soul, you're just saying that 'cause you haven't kissed her yet.**

**Haru: *giggles***

~Unknown Point of View~

Rules and thoughts on etiquette, socially acceptable behavior, and the like rushed through my head at a break-neck pace. How I knew that the speed of thought could have enough force behind it to snap a person's neck, I wasn't sure. I didn't know much of anything, honestly, and all I could see was darkness. I might've been blind, except for the fact that I knew which colors where which and what objects looked like what.

I knew what things were, I knew how to act and when to behave certain ways, but I didn't know my name. I didn't know what I looked like. I didn't know who I was. I didn't posses any memory of my family. Did I even _have_ a family? If so, where they worried about me? Was I in a hospital suffering from amnesia and/or in a coma while they sat there waiting for me to come out of the darkness to see them? Maybe I was dead. Was this what it felt like to be dead? I thought I felt pain in my right wrist and my stomach, but I couldn't be sure. I didn't think you were supposed to "feel" when you were dead…

Questions, questions, questions.

"Mary?" murmured a soothing voice. The voice was female and smooth, probably belonging to a young adult. It couldn't be a child since the voice wasn't squeaky or high-pitched, but it definitely wasn't the scratchy voice of an elder either.

"Maaaaaryyyyyy," the voice sang gently, like a mother waking a child. "I know you're awake, sweetheart. And I know that you might not want to get up right now," she was right, "and you don't have to, but I just wanted you to know that you're completely safe."

I tried to grunt in thanks, but the only sound that came out was a soft hiss that sounded like my vocal cords were shriveling up and dying. The woman chuckled and patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mary," she murmured quietly. "You'll be up and running in no time."

So my name was Mary.

Mary.

It was a pretty name—not too simple yet not too long—and had a pleasant ring to it. I also liked that it was an older name. It had belonged to queens and noblewomen as well as the common lady all throughout history, giving the name just as much importance as it did bad credit. A painting of Mary, Queen of Scots, popped into my head.

But, no matter how much I liked the name, it just didn't sound right. Perhaps those with amnesia couldn't recognize their own names. Maybe it was because of the coma that I was constantly going in and out of.

"Come on, Mary," the voice of the woman complained. "You've been awake for an entire week now! I need you to at least _try_ to open your eyes."

I let out a breath of annoyance. The woman, whose name I still had yet to discover and whose voice was all I knew since my awakening, had been trying to persuade me to get up and start moving around for the past hour or so, to no avail of course. I just didn't want to wake up. I was too comfortable under my thick blanket and on top of the soft mattress, my pillow equally enjoyable, to move around and destroy this comfort.

"_Mary_," the voice, usually soft and gentle, turned brittle and impatient, "open your eyes right now or I _swear_ I will let my lion use you as a chew toy."

That convinced me.

I attempted to lift my eyelids, though they felt heavy as anvils. However, as soon as my eyes were cracked open enough for me to see just past my eyelashes, brilliant white light hit me. My eyes shut themselves tight and I groaned, seeing shapes and patterns behind my eyelids. Nausea hit me and my head throbbed.

The woman sighed next to me and patted my shoulder lightly. "Should I go turn down the lights for you, Mary?" she asked me calmly. I nodded and she continued, "But when I do, I need for you to open your eyes again and listen up so I can explain who you are."

I stiffened. Did she just say that she'd explain who I was if I opened my eyes? So I'd get some answers…This woman really knew how to bribe.

"Ok, the lights are dimmed," the woman said cheerily. I hadn't even heard her footsteps as she went to turn down the light. I briefly wondered if she was some type of ghost that could float over to the light switch, but dismissed the ridiculous thought almost immediately. She probably had a wireless device to adjust the lights. Those existed, didn't they?

"Try again whenever you're ready, sweety," she said encouragingly.

I took a long, deep breath as I tried to reopen my eyes once more. This time, I found it quite easy to get my eyes open. They were no longer heavy from long hours of sleep and relaxation.

I internally scoffed at myself. Was I really that soft and weak that I'd actually had _difficulty_ opening my eyes?

But, now that they were open, I was able to gaze up at a pure white ceiling made of what seemed to be concrete. A light was built into each of the four corners of the square ceiling, which was held up by four walls built of the same white concrete. I looked down at myself to find that I was wearing a thin, but comfortable, white shirt and matching pants. The sheets were white as well.

Lined up against the far wall was a thick, dark wooden desk cluttered with papers, books, a lamp, and differently sized and shaped vials of liquids. On either side of the desk was a bookshelf made of the same type of wood. They were both just as cluttered as the desk, with books lined up unevenly on some shelves, and a few stacks of books with papers stuffed in between them on others. On top of both bookshelves was a statue of what looked to be a lion or panther stalking prey.

To my left was a wall that was entirely empty, save for the white door with the sliver knob that'd been centered in the concrete. The wall on the right was also empty, just with no door. My bed, the headboard against the wall, seemed to have been pushed against the back of the room. It was parallel to the desk so that I and the health monitors on my right—that had thankfully been muted so they didn't beep—could be easily seen from someone behind the desk. I gazed at the monitors, trying to make out what they said. However, I couldn't read anything the screens displayed. It was all in a language that looked more like chicken scratch than an actual language.

The only thing that I was able to recognize, as much as you could recognize something without your memories, was the I.V. held up on a silvery pole next to me. Hanging on the pole below the clear fluid was a sack filled with a light green substance. Both bags had tubes attached to them, though the one with the green stuff inside had a much, much thicker tube than the I.V.

I followed the tubes with my eyes to see that the I.V. tube led to my wrist, where it submerged under the delicate skin on the underside of my wrist, whereas the other tube was down somewhere under my shirt. Cautiously, I lifted the white fabric to find that the tube actually went _into_ my stomach region, just a little above my bellybutton. I suppressed a shriek of horror, knowing that the sound that would come out wouldn't sound like a shriek at all and would only end up making my vocal cords sore.

"Don't worry about that," said the voice of the woman, causing me to freeze up and drop my shirt's hem in surprise. I hadn't noticed her before now. "It's just our version of a feeding tube, sweety."

My head snapped to the left to gaze at the woman. As I looked at her, I found that she was, in fact, a young adult with flowing, wavy black hair. A single streak of white hair was shimmered in the dim light on the right side of her face. Her skin was literally the color of paper and her golden eyes gleamed under the dim lights as if they were glowing. Thin flecks if black, however, darkened her irises slightly.

The woman wore a white, long-sleeved cloak with a hood hanging behind her neck. She had sharp facial features, like you'd expect to find on fictional characters. To complete the "fictional" look, I noticed that there were some curves to her that even the looseness of the white cloak couldn't seem to hide.

The woman smiled in amusement, causing her face to brighten considerably.

"Mary, sweety," she began, chuckling lightly, "are you feeling alright?"

I realized I was staring in wide-eyed shock and mentally shook myself to clear my thoughts. I smiled back at the woman, nodding.

"Good," she said softly. "Now, can you try speaking or should I get you some water first?"

I opened my mouth to try to say that, yes, I wanted water, but my voice caught painfully in my throat, causing me to cough. The woman's smile was quickly replaced by an alarmed frown and she stood stiffly, walking to the desk. She opened a drawer as my coughs started to die down to a slight wheezing when I breathed. When she stood and walked back over, I saw that there was a clear plastic bottle of water in her pale hands. I grinned and took the bottle as she offered it to me.

The moment I twisted the cap off, the door burst open with a loud bang. In the doorway, panting, stood a young boy who was about eleven or twelve, from what I could tell. He had jet black hair streaked heavily with light gray. Or maybe it was light gray with black in it. There was so much of both colors that I couldn't really tell. Either way, it complimented his shimmering green eyes and ever-so-slightly-pale skin. The boy wore a fitted gray short-sleeve shirt and camouflage cargo pants with black combat boots. His arm muscles were clearly visible as he moved, the tenseness his figure held as he stood panting by the door bringing them out even more. I wondered if I should feel alarmed by the amount of muscle this child had.

The woman turned towards the door, sighing. "Yes, Ari?" she asked. "What is it?"

The boy, Ari, shut the door loudly and walked towards her unsteadily. "I…I saw…the lab," he gasped out. The woman hummed in acknowledgement and nodded. "And I read…I read her diagnosis." He nodded to me. "By the way," he added, looking to me still, "how…how are you, Maka?"

At the word "Maka", a fierce, painful burning shot through me and my ears began ringing, as if something loud was sounding right next to me. I dropped the water bottle along with its cap and covered my ears reflexively, trying to soothe the pain and my steadily growing headache by blocking out whatever sound was causing this.

I heard the splash of the water as it spewed from the open bottle onto the floor, as well as the woman's voice murmuring something near me. It was muffled and I had to strain to hear it. Even then, I had trouble understanding what it was between the pain, but I could still tell that the words she spoke weren't English nor Japanese, which I somehow knew that I spoke fluently. Actually, it wasn't any language I was familiar with, and I knew the way a _lot_ of different languages sounded.

After what felt like an hour of the pain, I found myself curled up in a ball under the white sheets of my bed with a dull headache. Sweat had beaded on my forehead and my clothes were slightly damp. I managed to pry my eyes open, though they were once again very heavy.

The first thing I saw was the woman with the black hair sitting by the bed as Ari stood rigid beside her. He held his arms behind his back and was looking forward at the wall in a soldierly manner, though I noticed he kept glancing at me in concern.

She smiled warmly at me. "I'm sorry about that, Mary," she said softly. "Are you feeling better now?"

I nodded, glancing warily between the two people before me and wondered if they had caused it somehow.

"Mary, can you speak now?" asked Ari. The woman glared at him as I cleared my throat to check if it felt a little less sore and opened my mouth.

"K-kinda," I hissed out in a scratchy voice.

"Why don't you drink some water, sweety," the black-haired woman suggested, holding up the water bottle from before.

I raised an eyebrow at the bottle, still full of water. "Didn't I," I croaked out before pausing to cough lightly. "Didn't I drop that?"

The woman smiled. "Don't worry about that, sweetheart," the woman reassured, holding out the open plastic bottle. "So now that you've opened your eyes and you're speaking, do you want me to explain who you are and why you're here?" I took the bottle and nodded excitedly, smiling brightly.

The woman chuckled. "Ok then," she said as I took a sip of water. "Before I say anything, I'm Cordelia and this," she placed a hand on Ari's shoulder, "is Ari. He's my apprentice. As for you, my dear, you are not actually named Mary." Cordelia paused, waiting for it to sink in.

I was surprised, but not as hurt as I expected I should've been. Perhaps it was because Cordelia had only been calling me Mary for only a short amount of time and I wasn't very attached to the name. But I was also very disappointed that I didn't know what my real name was.

"For as long as you're here, though," Cordelia continued slowly, "you _will_ be addressed as Mary. Now, as for who you are, I can't answer that right now."

I blinked in confusion. Hadn't Cordelia just agreed to tell me who I was just a little while ago to bribe me into opening my eyes? And she did say that she'd explain again just seconds before?

"Sweetheart, there's a reason that you remember nothing," Cordelia said seriously. "In the life you led previously, you were headed to an early death. Now, before you start asking questions," she said, holding up a finger as I began to lean forward in anticipation and my jaw dropped open to allow me speak, "let me expand on that. You see, I'm a witch and I have the very unique ability to see the future. I get visions that are usually at random, and one of the visions I had was of you dying before you reached eighteen."

"I…I'm going to die?" I asked timidly. I looked from Cordelia to Ari with tears forming in my eyes. I didn't want to die, especially not before experiencing the things that only adults could. And _especially_ not before I knew who I was!

And Cordelia was a witch? Was she going to hurt me? From what I knew, some witches were good and trustworthy but others….Then again, this particular witch _had_ saved me from dying, so she couldn't belong to the latter category. And then there was Ari, who seemed to like and trust her enough, judging from the fact that he was her apprentice.

Cordelia laughed. "Oh, no, I wouldn't let that happen, sweety," she reassured with a sweet smile. "I brought you here to prevent that. See, I wanted to get you away from what was going to cause your death before it could kill you. You're going to be staying here in my base," she gestured to the room, and probably the areas outside of it as well, "until the danger has passed. In the time that you spend with me, I'll be training you so that you become strong enough that we don't have any similar situations after I take you back home."

"How long will I be here?" I asked, my voice sounding more smooth and mature now that my throat wasn't as dry. "And does my family know where I am? Do they know what's going on?"

"Mary, sweety, your family knows that you're with me, but they don't know exactly where we are," she explained. "You can't see them or contact them until I'm sure that it's safe for you to go home to them, which could take quite some time. They don't know that you were going to die either. They just think that you're here because you have a special ability that I want to train you to use, which isn't a lie. Mary, you have a lot potential that the people in your home city can't teach you to unlock."

I nodded and thought for a few moments, trying to sort through the questions forming in my head.

"Mary, I want you to relax a bit before I explain too much more, but I just want to know one thing before I leave," Cordelia said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion before nodding, signaling the woman to continue. "Do you remember what Ari called you a moment ago?"

I racked my brain, trying to think back to the few times Ari had spoken. It was much more difficult than I thought to recall anything, but as I'd just woken up and experienced some massive headache, it was probably to be expected.

"Um…he called me Mary. Is that what you wanted to know?" I asked.

Cordelia shook her head. "He called you something before you got that nasty headache, sweety," she said. "Do you remember what that was?"

_"By the way," he added, looking to me still, "how…how are you, Mary?"_

I shook my head. "He called me Mary," I replied. Cordelia smirked as Ari's face seemed to fall for a split-second before going back to a neutral expression.

"Good job, sweety," she praised. "Now, I know you still have questions, so how about I give you some paper and a pen and you write them down, 'kay? I'll answer them after I let you rest for a bit. Plus I don't want you to use your voice any more than you need to."

I nodded, thinking that this would be best, and Cordelia stood and walked to the desk, shuffling with some papers until she produced a small, white spiral notebook and a blue-ink pen.

"Found them!" she cheered triumphantly before skipping back over to me and handing me the notebook and pen. "Now, you take your time and write down as many questions as you want. Later on, when I come to remove those pesky tubes," she waved dismissively towards the monitors, I.V. pouch, and bagged green substance to the right of my bed, "I'll answer as many as I can."

Cordelia then hugged me and placed a kiss on my forehead. "Let's go Ari," she called to her apprentice cheerfully as she walked towards the door, a bounce to her steps. "You still have an exam to finish."

Ari sighed and followed, pausing to look back before walking out. "Never forget that Mary isn't your real name," he said seriously. My eyes widened slightly in surprised at the statement but I nodded. Then, he smiled and left. The door closed quietly behind him and a lock clicked.

After about an hour or two, I had composed a long list of questions that started out something like this:

_Why did I get such a big headache?_

_Why can't I know my real name and about my life before if I can't go home anyway?_

_Is anyone else in danger of dying like I was? If so, how come you haven't saved them too?_

_What kinds of training will I be doing?_

_How old am I?_

_What's my special ability?_

_Can I see what I look like any time soon?_

_If I can't remember anything about myself, how do I know the things I do? I know how to read and write and I can speak a few different languages._

_Did I have a boyfriend at home? I feel like I'm old enough to have one._

_Did I have a lot of friends?_

_Are there other people that I'll be training with? _

_If so, will one of them be Ari?_

And so on the questions went. I sat on the bed, rereading over some of the questions when the door opened. I looked up and saw that Cordelia had walked in. However, Ari wasn't with her this time, to my unexpectedly-strong disappointment.

"Hello, Mary," the witch greeted me cheerily. "Are you done with your list of questions?"

I nodded. "I've been done for a while now," I replied. "I was just checking them over to see if I missed anything."

"Ok then," Cordelia said, walking over to take the notebook from my hands. "Let's start with the first question…"

She turned the cover to open the notebook to the first sheet of paper and her eyes scanned the page.

"Well, the reason you got a headache," she began slowly with her eyes still on the page, "is because right before you got that ringing in your ears," she waved her hand next to her ear, "when Ari was asking how you were feeling, he didn't _actually_ call you Mary."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion and shook my head.

"Yes he did," I objected. "I remember."

Cordelia gave a slight shake of her head with a small, guilty smile tugging at her lips. "No, I made you _think_ you heard him call you Mary. What he actually said was your real name," she explained.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused," I said after a moment's pause.

Cordelia chuckled. "Mary, I'm a witch, so I can use magic to make you think whatever I want you to think," she said. "I can get into your head and hear your thoughts, see what you feel."

My eyes widened, as knowledge that some witches were much more dangerous than they appeared came back to me. I tightly gripped the sheet of the bed, and my suspicion about Cordelia being a destructive and cruel witch came back.

"Mary, I'm not going to hurt you," Cordelia said, noticing my shock and apparently-evident fear. "If I wanted you dead, I could've let you to die instead of saving you and keeping you safe."

I scowled at her. "You could just be lying to gain my trust and use me for something," I countered.

Cordelia sighed and shook her head. "Ok then, Mary, what do you want me to do to prove to you that I'm not—"

"Mama!" a little girl shouted from the hallway, interrupting the witch's question.

Cordelia sighed and turned around as a little girl with white hair with thin, gray highlights threw the door open and ran inside. Her little white silk dress flowed gracefully as she moved, concealing her feet and making it look like she was gliding across the floor.

"Mama, Papa said he'd come play with me!" she shouted excitedly, her big blue eyes shinning happily. "Can you come too?"

Cordelia glanced back at me and bit her lip. "I'm sorry, sweety," she said, kneeling so that she was eye level with the child. "I'm taking care of Mary over there." She jerked her thumb over at me.

"Awww, but you're always doing something," the little girl complained, pouting. Then she sighed. "It's ok, Mama. Go make Mary feel better," the child said with a small smile, though she still looked a little heartbroken.

Cordelia wrapped her arms around the little girl and started to stroke her hair. "Sweety, why don't you go ask Papa to come here and you two can help me, ya?" she suggested quietly. "Then we can go play."

The child perked up immediately, breaking away from the hug. "Okay!" she agreed happily, running out the door and shouting "Papa!"

I chuckled at the child's willingness to help. It was very cute and…well, innocent.

"So, Mary," Cordelia began turning back to me. "What do you want me to do to show you that I'm _not_ a bad person?"

I smiled, glancing at the door that the little girl had disappeared behind. "I think I've seen all that I need to," I replied quietly, feeling a bit guilty to have accused Cordelia like I did without any proof.

"Ok then," Cordelia sighed in relief. "So I'm going to start answering your questions and then I'll get rid of all this stupid crap." She nodded toward the monitors and tubes beside my bed.

I let out a nervous breath, thinking of the tube leading into my stomach. We were going to _remove_ that? It had a rather long diameter for a feeding tube! This was going to hurt, wasn't it?

"So, the reason you got that headache," Cordelia began to explain, looking back down at the notebook, "is because every time you hear, see, or are reminded of something that relates to your old life—"

"Like my real name," I interjected.

"Like your real name," she confirmed, "it will give you a headache and make you unable to hear temporarily. I'm the only one who can stop it, so unless I'm there, you're going to be in pain for a while."

I winced, thinking of getting a headache like that again when the witch wasn't there.

Cordelia smiled and gave me a reassuring pat on the head as she walked over to the monitors. "Don't worry about it, Mary," she said gently. "I'm not going to just let you suffer."

I nodded, knowing that this woman, being a mother and a teacher, would stay true to her word and protect me.

Cordelia hummed, examining the symbols speeding by on one of the screens. "Looks like you're going to have to stay awake when we turn these off, Mary," she murmured, glancing at me.

"Um, is that bad?" I asked in concern.

Cordelia grimaced towards one of the larger monitors displaying a chart of some sort. "It's gonna make this a hell of a lot more painful," Cordelia replied bluntly. "And we can't give you painkillers either. It'll just end up causing an infection. My pain killers doesn't react well with the chemicals in the I.V."

I glanced down at where the tube transporting the light green substance went into my stomach and gulped. This was probably going to be painful anyway, but now it was going to get even worse?

"Mary, sweety, the questions are going to have to wait a few more minutes," Cordelia said apologetically as she began to fiddle with something on the back of one of the smaller monitors. "I need to turn the equipment off and then I'm going to take out those tubes, 'kay?"

"W-wait," I stuttered. "We're doing this now?"

Cordelia stopped what she was doing and looked over at me quizzically. "Unless you have a good reason why we shouldn't, then yes, we're doing it now," she replied.

I opened my mouth, trying to think of a valid reason not to remove the tubes now, other than the fact that it would probably hurt like hell. When nothing came to mind, I snapped my jaw shut and looked down at my hands in dismay.

"Thought so," the witch muttered, going back to messing with the monitors.

I sighed, dread building up in me at the thought of the tubes being removed, mostly the light green one.

I heard the monitors buzz for a few seconds and glanced at the screens to see that they'd gone black. Cordelia was kneeling on the floor next to where multiple wires had been pulled out of some sockets in the wall.

"OK, Mary. They're all off," she informed me, smiling. "Now, again, I can't give you any kind of numbing cream or painkiller, so it's not going to be pleasant. Please follow my instructions and we can be done in less than ten minutes. Now, take off your shirt and lie down."

Nervousness hit me again, and I wondered just _how_ much this was going to hurt. But, as I was told to do I pulled my shirt over my head. A rush of cold blew against my bare skin and I looked down to find that I wasn't wearing anything beneath the white cloth. My face turned red and I glanced at Cordelia, only she wasn't looking at me. She was glaring at the I.V. again.

On top of it all, the shirt got stuck on the I.V. tube and kept Cordelia glaring down at it before sighing and taking my arm to hold me still while my other hand grabbed the sheet and held it over my bare torso. It seemed that we'd both forgotten about the clear liquid until now out of apprehension to get to the thick green-substance-bearing tube.

"You may want to look away," Cordelia told me softly.

I turned my head to look at the door as I felt her tug a little on the I.V. tube. It stung a little when she pulled, but it wasn't any kind of unbearable pain. However, after Cordelia fiddled around with the tube some more and began to tug at it and make it wiggle, I felt the tube begin to move. Not move as in Cordelia was twisting the part of it that wasn't actually in my wrist, but the part that was inside of me moved as she tugged it.

It felt like there was some sort of worm moving inside of my arm. My stomach begin to roll and I lurched forward with a groan, a hand over my stomach. My fingers knocked into the feeding tube, making the nausea worsen. I wondered if I would throw up.

"Sorry about that, Mary," Cordelia said, sounding honest but not quite as guilty as I though she should've felt, "but we've gotta do this now that I've turned off the equipment."

I winced, imagining the tube moving around like that more and the nausea struck harder. "I thought I.V.'s were supposed to be injected into the body with some type of needle," I gasped out. "Why is the tube actually _inside of my wrist_?"

"It's just the way I do things Mary," Cordelia replied. "And I wasn't expecting to have to pull it out like this. I was supposed to put your to sleep with some anesthetics and take it out then. Anyways, just to make sure you don't move while it remove these annoying things, I'm going to have to strap you down."

My head snapped in her direction and I scowled, the hand without the I.V. forming a fist, curling around the sheet covering my chest. I understood that she needed me to be still or whatever, but wan't strapping me down a little extreme?

She smiled sympathetically down at me before dropping my wrist and walking over to one of the bookshelves next to the desk. She shuffled some papers and knocked books onto the floor before she found a small bamboo box. She walked back over to my bed, struggling to open the rusted latch on the box. I gazed at it in confusion, wondering what was inside.

As Cordelia reached my bedside, she finally got the latch open and turned the box so that I couldn't see its contents as she opened it. Inside it were long, flattened leather cords that were at lest two inches thick. It was difficult to tell how long each one was, since they were all tangled together, but I could see the ends of a few of them. The leather was studded with four metallic lumps in the shape of a square every several inches, giving the light brown leather a slight belongs-in-an-interrogation-room kind of look.

"Ok then, Mary," Cordelia said, looking up from the box. "I'm going to have you lie down and shut your eyes and we can remove that I.V."

**Haru: And that's all for today folks!**

**Soul: WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, BUT MAKA—**

**Haru: YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH WHERE THIS IS HEADED SOUL?! 'CUZ IF YOU DO, I SWEAR I WILL HAVE HER DIE OF INFECTION OR SOMETHING!**

**Soul: *faints***

**Kid: I think you've been scarring him too often. He's probably just lost fifty years of his life in the past few chapters alone.**

**Liz: Don't jinx it, Kid.**


	10. Visions

**Haru: Hey guys! So I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that this chapter is going to be very different from all the other chapters. I plan to keep you guys entertained for the next however long it'll take you to read this.**

**Soul: Why do I have a bad feeling about this?**

**Haru: *smirking evilly***

_Maka and Soul sat huddled together on top of their makeshift mattress of hay. Soul had wrapped Maka up tightly in her long black trench coat. He'd also insisted on giving her his own jacket to help block out to cold winter wind coming from the barred windows of their small prison cell. However, she'd scowled at him when he'd tried to give it to her and told him that his thin shirt wasn't enough to keep him from freezing to death. _

_As a result, they were both curled up on top of the hay almost constantly just to keep warm enough to survive._

_Maka nuzzled Soul's neck, causing him to shiver and chuckle as her breath lightly tickled him. _

_"W—we should do this when it gets cold at home," he whispered teasingly, as his body shook from the low temperature. _

_Maka smiled up at him weakly. "You just like the idea of sharing the bed with a girl, pervert," she teased back breathily, as she was having slight difficulty with breathing from the lack of heat._

_He smirked back. "So?" he drawled. "Is that a problem?" _

_Soul wagged his eyebrows suggestively, making Maka laugh. _

_Her laughter suddenly turned to violent coughs that shook her whole body. She went limp in his arms, still coughing. Soul's heart started pounding in fear and he held her closer. He rubbed her back to warm her up in hopes of helping to ease her coughing. Thankfully, the coughs soon stopped and turned to wheezing._

_"Soul," Maka whispered weakly. _

_"Ya, Maka?" he asked quietly. _

_"I…I don't think I'll…I might not make it back," she breathed out. "Back home, I mean."_

_Soul stopped moving instantly, staring down at his meister in surprise. It wasn't like her to say something like this. At least…not unless she was sure…_

_"Maka, don't say that," he pleaded. "You know I won't leave without you."_

_Maka groaned and they sat up. She throw her arms around his neck and pressed her chest to his. The action didn't bother either of them, since they'd been partners for several years and were close like this on a normal basis. They'd curled up together on the couch in the winter when the heater broke, 'cuase it snowed like hell in Death City. They'd shared beds during missions if they were undercover as a couple/siblings or had no other options._

_Maka ran her fingers through his hair, not sure if she'd ever get to feel it again. "Soul…I know my wavelength is getting a lot weaker and—"_

_"So is mine," Soul snapped impatiently. "Maka, listen to me. You. Are. Not. Going. To. Die. Got it? It's just the cold getting to you."_

_Maka sighed and smiled. "If you say so," she replied. "Now, I'm tired, so I'm gonna sleep. Night, Soul." She pressed a kiss to the base of his neck, taking her time with moving from the position, and disentangled herself from her partner to lie down on the hay._

_Soul saw Maka shudder as a breeze swept through the room and he curled up next to her, facing her back. She tangled her legs with his, looking into his eyes with a type of affection showing on her face. Her breath stirred his bangs as her fingers trailed down his neck._

_"I love you Soul," she said suddenly, catching her weapon off guard. "I wanted to tell you now, just in case."_

_Soul sighed. "Maka, I told you not to talk like that. And, yes, I love you too."_

_Maka smiled and let out a relieved sigh. He had said he loved her. Normally, if he said this, he meant it in a much more platonic way, but now…_

_Now, Maka could feel his wavelength and how it'd fluttered happily when they'd both confessed. Though, she supposed they'd always known deep down that they'd loved each other as more than just best friends for a while._

_"So…can I kiss you now?" she asked. Soul gave a low chuckle and rolled them over so that he was on top of her. "I'll take that as a yes," she whispered and smiled. Soul smirked down at her and pressed his mouth to hers._

_She relaxed immensely under him before tilting her head and pushing back. Soul's hand slipped between them and slowly pulled up her shirt, tracing circles on her stomach. She felt shocks from the contact travel up her spine and her breath hitched in her throat._

_Maka's fingers ghosted up Soul's side, where she knew he was ticklish. He pulled away and laughed a bit before Maka took the opportunity to move her open mouth against his, her teeth brushing his lip. Soul stiffened in surprise and his eyes shot open before they closed again as Maka prompted him to participate as well by swiping her tongue over his upper lip. He groaned and slid his hand behind her neck to hold her in place. She ran her hands through his hair and sighed softly. _

_However, a sudden clanging from outside their prison cell stopped them. They both shot up, Soul pressed Maka back against the cold stone wall and stood protectively in front of her. The thick wooden door of the cell opened with a loud bang as it hit the wall. Maka winced from behind her weapon, sensing the rage and frustration of the leader of the criminals who'd imprisoned them through the wavelengths he was sending out. _

_The man walked in, his usual all-black clothing covering him completely, face included._

_"So it seems," he began in a low, hostile voice, "that your precious Shinigami refuses to pay the ransom for you two pipsqueaks."_

_Maka smirked. "He'd never give the academy's money to the likes of you," she spat at him. "Especially not since we've completed our mission to take your organization down."_

_The man laughed loudly. "And how exactly, little girl, did you get it into your head that you've destroyed my empire?" he asked. Then he held up a hand to stop her from answering. "Actually, I don't want to listen to your fairy tales. The point is, I'm not going to make money from keeping you as prisoners, so I've got no use for you now."_

_Even though the man was wearing a thick black mask that covered his face, Maka and Soul both knew he was smiling wickedly as he produced a long, curved dagger from his belt. Soul's jaw tightened, while Maka's smirk only grew as she sensed the souls of Stein, Spirit, Sid, Naigus, and all of Spartoi entering the large building, destroying kishin egg souls as they plowed their way towards her and Soul's location. _

_In moments, distant shouts and gunfire could be heard echoing through the stone fortress that the organization of thieves occupied._

_"What the…" the man whispered, his gaze flying to the doorway for a split second before resting back on the weapon-meister team. "You," he growled savagely. "You told your friends our location."_

_Soul smiled fondly over at his meister. "And this is why I love you so much," he said to her. _

_She put her hand on his shoulder and he felt her soul wavelength telling him to transform. He did so, landing lightly in Maka's skilled hands. She stood and took a stance, pointing Soul's blade at the man._

_"It's over," she said. "Surrender now or else your soul is mine."_

_The man laughed and shouted, "guards!"_

_About six men, armed with AK-47's, came in and stood behind their leader. Maka smiled. She and Soul had put in hours of training with Kid, Liz, and Patty to learn how to either dodge or deflect high-speed bullets using Soul's blade and staff, so there was no way that Maka couldn't take these guys down. _

_She smiled teasingly. "Take your best shot, morons," she taunted with a smug smile._

_Gunfire erupted in the room. Maka waved Soul this way and that, barely having to step out of the way. Bullets ricocheted off of the scythe, hitting four of the six men. The last two men switched from their firearms to longswords. They ran past their boss, and jumped at Maka. _

_She cut one of them on the leg, hitting bone, and gave the other a deep slash across the chest. They both tumbled, bleeding and in pain, to the floor as Maka fell to her knees, her side facing the man in the black, coughing as wind blew through the window. The cold air rushing through her nose and to her lungs as the rest of her body was warming up definitely had a negative effect on her. The small amount of sweat that had built up on Maka's body began to freeze to ice, making her chest constrict painfully from lack of heat. _

_Soul leapt from her hands, turning completely human save for his arm, and ran at the man. He saw the man tense up and throw his dagger. Soul dodged it with ease and cut the man across the chest. He fell on his back with a loud thud on the frosty stone floor. However, instead of pleading for help, and he could've lived if he'd begged, since Soul didn't cut too deep, the man laughed. _

_"I win!" he shouted. "I win you stupid little boy!" As the man began to laugh maniacally, Soul lost his patience and ran his blade through his heart. The man became still only a few moments after and when he did, Soul stood up straight and transformed his arm to its human form._

_"S-Soul," Maka whispered from behind him. _

_Soul turned with a triumphant smirk. "Ya Ma—" Soul stopped, seeing a huge circle of blood in Maka's shirt and the man's dagger by her knees. The dagger was covered in blood—Maka's, to be precise._

_When Soul had dodged the dagger…it had flown past him…instead of hitting him it had hit Maka!_

_The Death Scythe ran to her as she began to fall forward, dropping to his knees and sliding to catch her before she hit the floor. He turned her over gently and began to move her shirt up to stop the bleeding when she grasped his hand gently. _

_"It's too late, Soul," she whispered. "I've already lost too much blood and my body's too cold for me to last…"_

_Tears began to form in Soul's eyes. "No, you haven't Maka!" he shouted and pushed her shirt up to find a deep, heavily bleeding wound in her stomach. "You aren't dying on me!"_

_"Soul," she moaned. "Please don't let this be how I last…how I last…see…" Her words trailed off as her eye lids dropped and her wavelength began to fade._

_Panic built up in Soul at this. "M-Maka?" he asked timidly. "You promised that you wouldn't leave me. You promised. We're partners, right? You can't just leave your partner…"_

_Maka smiled. "I love you Soul," she murmured, her words slurring together slightly. She reached up to press her hand to his cheek, still smiling. "Smile, Soul," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "I want that to be the last way I see you."_

_"Maka, please, don't say that," Soul pleaded with a hiccup as the tears fell. "This isn't going to be the last way you see me. You're going to live. When Kim gets here, she'll—"_

_"Maka!" shouted the voice of Tsubaki from the doorway. Next to her stood Black*Star, who was staring at Soul's tense form in confusion. _

_Maka's head rolled to the side lazily. She was still smiling when she spoke wither her words slurring even more, "Ey, Tsubashi."_

_Tsubaki, unable to see her injury since Soul was holding Maka and effectively blocking her view of the blood, looked at her in confusion. "Soul," she began carefully, the concern in her voice beginning to show, "what are you two doing on the floor? And why isn't Maka speaking clearly?"_

_Soul turned to face them, allowing Maka's injury to show. Black*Star tried to say something, but the only thing that came out was a jumbled mess of sounds before he paled and fainted, falling face-first on the floor. Tsubaki's hands flew to her mouth and her knees hit the stone tile beneath her. Tears burst from her eyes immediately. _

_"G-get Kim," Soul whispered hoarsely._

_Tsubaki nodded before wiping her tears and standing. She whipped around and ran off into the hallway shouting Kim's name. _

_"Soul," Maka whispered. Her partner looked down at her, his worry growing as he felt that her soul wavelength had weakened significantly since she'd been impaled. She however, looked like she was being lazy and about to take a nap, her grin still not faltering in the slightest. "Soul, smile for me. Or tease me or something. Please, I…I just want to see it one more time."_

_Wasn't Maka in pain? Wasn't she dizzy or something? Was she still having trouble breathing from the cold?_

_"Maka…I can't," he told her. "Not while you're injured like this."_

_This time, Maka's face fell, making Soul's tears come faster. _

_"Then kiss me instead," she whispered._

_He looked her up and down, from her dirty-blonde hair to her eyes and sharp facial features, down the subtle curve of her chest, and along her hour-glass figure. He scanned her injury, which was bleeding less heavily now but still bleeding nonetheless, and followed her long legs, covered by thick leggings to help with the cold, to her combat boots with the white straps that she'd always adored._

_He sighed, releasing a few more tears, and pressed his mouth to hers lightly. She nipped at his lip in return, obviously having expected more from him than a simple, G-rated kiss but unable to find the energy to actually engage._

_As Soul leaned back to look down at her, he found that she was smiling again, though her soul wavelength was getting closer and closer to being gone. Kim burst into the room almost right afterwards with Jackie, Naigus, Sid, Spirit, and Stein rushing in after her._

_Kim and Jackie quickly started resonating, a trick they'd developed to increase Kim's regeneration magic, and got to work on Maka's injury. They sat on her right side, opposite of Soul. Stein stood by Maka's feet, trying to do a diagnosis while relay information to Kim without freaking out. Naigus did her best to assist him. However, since they'd both become extremely well-acquainted with the members of Spartoi, they had a lot of difficulty keeping it together at the sight. Maka was practically bleeding out, only to have the blood begin turning to frost on her skin._

_Sid, knowing that he couldn't be of much help, took Black*Star away to meet up with the rest of the students. Spirit, of course, was curled up by the wall, bawling like a child. _

_Kim and Jackie kept their position for a full few minutes, constantly having to shush Maka when she tried to ask Soul to smile over and over so she'd get to see it one more time. However, after those short few minutes, Kim's magic disappeared and she removed her hands from where they'd been over the stab wound. _

_"I…I got here too late," she whispered. "Maka's lost too much blood. There's nothing I can do."_

_"Hey, I'm n-not gone yet," Maka hissed as though in pain, though she was still smiling. "Don't talk about me as if I'm not h-here."_

_Soul looked down at her and shifted his arm to hold up her head more comfortably. "What am I supposed to do without you, Maka?" he asked, his voice cracking. _

_Maka chuckled. "Simple," she murmured sleepily. "You're going to get over me at some point, then you'll find a new partner, grow up, get married, have kids…"_

_Soul shook his head, shut his eyes, and buried his face in Maka's chest. He listened to her breathe until her soul wavelength was about to disappear, then he quickly pulled his head up and smiled fondly down at his partner and he told her he loved her one more time._

_Maka's eyes fluttered closed and she muttered a "finally" under her breath, though Soul had some difficulty hearing through Spirit's wailing. Then, just before her angel-shaped soul began to float over her body, she grabbed Soul's hand shakily and sent a rush of images and words through his soul with the last of her wavelength. _

_It was all the things she'd wanted to say to everyone, how she wanted to say goodbye to all her friends and family, what items she wanted to go to who that wasn't already listed on her will._

_It was everything she couldn't do, all the things she'd so desperately wanted._

_To Soul, she'd asked for him to smile more and try to interact with people when he could, but not to push himself too hard on. She knew he disliked crowds. She wanted him to play piano, on an actual piano that was not inside a room with black and red tiles with an annoying little demon in it._

_She wanted him to live his life to the fullest._

_At Maka's funeral, which was being broadcasted live on the news, since Maka was a hero known worldwide and her death was mourned greatly, Soul met Maka's mother. _

_Soul had already delivered all of Maka's final words and wishes to everyone except Kami. He'd packed up Maka's things and organized all of her books on a shelf in his own room, as he planned to read them later on to help keep Maka's memory close. _

_However, the things he'd done for everyone that Maka had wanted were completely different from the things that Maka wanted to tell her mom. _

_So when he saw her, talking and crying quietly with Spirit, he marched right up to her and introduced himself to the tall woman._

_He knew was she was Japanese, though she didn't look it, save for the thin face. Her eyes were a dull green with light, milky brown flecks here and there. They weren't at all like how Maka's bright green ones had been, Soul noted. She had dark brown hair that was much too curly to be natural and she wore a black dress that covered her arms and her shoes. Black leather gloves concealed her fingers and a dark shawl hung over her shoulders._

_"Kami?" Soul asked rather rudely, though he didn't exactly care. _

_She glanced over at him, taking in his appearance. He wore a simple black suit with a black undershirt and a matching tie. A handkerchief was folded neatly and tucked into his coat pocket. _

_Kami glared at him and growled out, "Who are you and what do you want?"_

_Soul's expression remained neutral. "I was Maka's partner," he replied. "Name's Soul. Before Maka died, she resonated with me and explained everything that she wanted me to tell you. So if I could talk to you for a few minutes in private and tell you about it, that'd be great."_

_Kami looked at Spirit. "Is this true?" she hissed quietly, trying not to let Soul hear her but failing miserably. "Was this…this creepy _boy_ my baby's partner?"_

_Spirit sighed and glanced at Soul apologetically. "Everything he's saying is true, Kami," he replied._

_Kami huffed and nodded to Soul. "Alright then kid, let's talk," she said._

_He turned and gestured for the woman to follow him. She glared at his back, but followed him away from her daughter's grave. They walked to a quiet area of the graveyard and stood under the shade of a tree to get out of the burning Nevada sun._

_"So what did Maka want to tell me before she died?" Kami asked impatiently. _

_Soul shook his head. "You're going to get angry," he warned her._

_Kami frowned. "How so?" she asked. _

_"Well, for starters," Soul began, "Maka's goodbyes for you weren't as…touching as her goodbyes to our friends were."_

_"Just tell me what she wanted to say," the woman snarled. _

_Soul looked at Kami and her bloodshot eyes and sighed. "Yes ma'am," he muttered, irritated at this woman's prejudiced hostility towards his looks and gender. "Maka wanted to tell you that in the end, she realized that you never wanted her in the first place."_

_Kami gasped and her eyes widened in surprise._

_"And she wanted to say that she knows this because nobody tries for a child when they're an unmarried seventeen-year-old," he continued. "She wanted to know that she hated you for having a child, even if it was an accident, and just up and leaving her out of nowhere._

_"She despised you for no being there when she needed you. Did you know that Maka had to suffer through a whole lot of shit by herself because you weren't there, Kami?" he asked, his fury growing as his voice rose. "I watched her learn to take care of her self without you to tell her the way things worked. Both with running the house and dealing with all that genetic stuff you gave her. You know she got some really messed up genes from you that Spirit couldn't help her with? She had to learn how to deal with it all by herself!" Soul shouted, then dropped his voice to a whisper. "Did you know that your daughter, Maka, went through migraines so bad that sometimes, if she moved, her body couldn't take the pain and she fainted?_

_"Did you know she had to go get a surgery to fix it because fainting was a risk she wasn't willing to take on missions? That Maka, my _partner_ Maka, who I've lived with for the five years that you were gone, had to take prescription medication for the pain of random aches. Her skin reacted to certain things that apparently affected you too. But Maka didn't really know how to deal with it so she just suffered until she figured it out. She went through it all alone and I couldn't help her at all."_

_Kami was crying into her hands by the time Soul finished speaking. After a few moments, she fell to the ground. _

_"And even after her defeat of the Kishin," he started up again, wanting to bring up a point that Maka had never really told him directly even though he knew it had bothered her at the time, "you never so much as sent a congratulations letter or anything. Why was that, exactly?"_

_Kami let out a loud sob._

_"Maka died thinking that you considered her a mistake," Soul growled. "She always thought that you used the divorce as an excuse to leave her. And the worst part is—"_

_"Stop!" the woman shouted. "Stop it, just leave me alone!"_

_Soul shrugged and walked away, heading back towards where the Spartoi members stood, mostly crying and hugging. _

_"The worst part is that she had to die before you came to see her. Don't forget you you've failed to help your daughter, Kami," he said over his shoulder. "And remember that there's nothing you can do to make up for it!"_

_A few months after the funeral, Soul's depression and insomnia started to slowly kill him. He didn't eat or drink much and refused to speak about his problems. The only thing he did was read, study, and wallow in his misery. He read to remind him of Maka and he studied to take Maka's place as the top student in their class. Wallowing, apparently, was normal for a weapon who'd lost a partner, according to Stein._

_However, when Soul began to collapse at random, Kid summoned him to the Death Room and said that he was sending him to live with his family in New York for a few months. Soul broke down, crying and shouting that he couldn't go back to them, as they'd make him talk about Maka and then insult her for her lack of musical interest._

_"Soul!" Kid had shouted. "Get a hold of yourself." Soul looked up at the shinigami. "Would Maka really want you to be this sad? Didn't she want you to smile?" _

_Soul hiccuped. "I…"_

_"What, Soul?" Kid snapped. "What could you possibly say other than you're sorry? Maka would want you to be happy and you know it but you're just being selfish. You want to sit there and feel sorry that you couldn't save her. Soul, _look_ at yourself!" Kid pointed to his father's large mirror that stood behind him. _

_"You don't eat, you don't drink, you don't sleep, you don't talk, and you don't smile," Kid said, a little more gentle this time. "Maka would hit you with a book for doing this to yourself. So get your sorry ass off the floor, go home, pack a suitcase, eat something, have a glass of water, and the car will come to pick you up in a few hours. Got it?"_

_Soul stood and wiped his face, nodding. "Y—ya, sorry," he mumbled. "I'll go get ready."_

_The next day, Soul was standing with his suitcase and backpack by his parents' door. He took a deep breath and rang the bell. Almost immediately after, he heard shouting, people running, and objects falling before it all became quiet and the door opened._

_The head maid, Janet, who'd been working in the mansion for as long as Soul could remember, held the door open for him to enter. _

_"Welcome home, Master Evans," she said sweetly. _

_Soul gave her a weak smile and nodded. "Hello Janet," he greeted as he stepped inside. "How've you been?"_

_Janet chuckled. "I'm fine, as always, Master Evans," she replied. "And you?"_

_Soul shrugged. "Been better," he said honestly, a slight hint of bitterness in his voice. "But it's good to be back, in a way."_

_"Soul!" Wes shouted as he ran into the foyer from one of the halls and towards his brother to tackle him in a hug. "I'm so glad you're home!"_

_Soul groaned inwardly and awkwardly patted his brother's back. "Ya, sure, whatever," he mumbled, unused to the physical contact now that Maka wasn't able to cuddle with on the couch or share the bed with._

_Then Wes let go and took Soul by the wrist. "Come on, Soul!" he continued on excitedly. "There's someone I want you to meet."_

_And Soul let Wes drag him through the house and he let his brother take him to change into a suit. He allowed himself to be dropped in a chair in the living room. Wes left the room shortly after placing a glass of wine in front of his little brother. Soul took the wine in his hands and it was gone in seconds. Not long after, Wes came back in, closing the door almost all the way behind him._

_"Are you ready to meet her, Soul?" Wes asked, excited and twitchy._

_Soul rolled his eyes and nodded, though he didn't know what was going on. At all._

_Wes took a deep breath and suddenly became very serious. "Soul," he began uncertainly, "I…don't want you to be mad when you meet her…"_

_Soul scoffed. "Why should I be mad?" he asked rudely. "I don't know who she is or why I have to meet her. You really need to work on explaining things, Wes."_

_Wes rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Ok then," he murmured before turning and opening the door to let a young girl in. _

_This girl was probably eleven or twelve. She wore a lacy pink, white, and black dress with black flats. She had a fairly nice figure for a pre-teen, though that wasn't really what captivated Soul. _

_What really got his attention was how similar she looked to…well, Maka. Though she also had some elements that were similar to Kami and some that were newer. She had Kami's hair color, though it was straight like Maka's, and she had blue-grey eyes, though they were shaped like Maka's. She had a slight roundness to her checks and her skin color was that of someone of Spanish decent. _

_Soul's jaw dropped and his chest tightened painfully at the resemblance. He began to see spots and the room swayed. Everything began to spin much too fast until it all went black._

_Soul stood in his suit in the Black Room, looking down at the keys of the glorious black grand piano before him. Jazz music played softly in the background and Oni was dancing, for once leaving Soul to his own thoughts until Soul finally put the pieces together._

_"Hey, Oni," he called to the little demon without looking up. "I figured it all out."_

_The demon stopped dancing and turned off the record player, curious as to what Soul was going on about._

_"Figured out what?" he asked the weapon._

_Soul ran his fingers over the keys, though he didn't press any of them._

_"All of it," he replied bluntly. "That was probably Maka's half-sister. And Spirit wasn't the only one running around and cheating, since Maka has a half-sister that's just a little younger than us."_

_Oni smiled his devious, pointy-toothed smile and began to pace excitedly behind Soul. _

_"So Wes probably found this girl and noticed how freaking _similar_ she looked to Maka, since we've all been in the news several times," Soul continued. "Then he called Kid and they talked about it and Kid explained how I've been doing since Maka died so Wes suggested that I come and meet this girl so we can talk about the sister that she never met."_

_Oni smiled more. "But, of course, they were doing this to shock you into getting over that Maka," he said mockingly. "How else were they going to nurse you back to health?"_

_Soul didn't react. He just continued to look at the piano before reaching over to pull the cover down over the keys._

_The demon saw this and began to panic. "What are you doing, Soul?!" he shouted._

_The cover slammed shut and the piano's form rippled until it disappeared. "I'm done," was all Soul said before he walked out of the Black Room. "I'm done being this way."_

_And as Soul's pinstripe suit left his figure, the door to the Black Room shut and a thick chain wrapped around it. A huge lock clicked shut, locking the chain in place and ensuring that the black blood would never take control again._

_Just as Maka had wanted._

**Haru: What did I tell you? Different.**

**Soul: You…said you wouldn't kill Maka…**

**Haru: Hahahaha well you'll just have to wait for the next chapter Soul. I'm not finished here. *more evil smirking***


	11. Maka to Mary

**Haru: Hello my lovely readers! **

**Soul: I HATE YOU!**

**Haru: *ignoring Soul* So how did you like the last chapter? Wait, don't answer that. Let me guess. Um…you all hated it!**

**Soul: DAMN RIGHT I HATED IT!**

**Haru: *still ignoring him* I'm sure none of you were expecting me to kill Maka. *evil smile* Well, never fear because we're not finished. Enjoy the chapter! *sinister laughter***

~Cordelia's Point of View~

A jolt of fear and sadness rolled through my body as my eyes shot open, rousing me from my sleeping state. I stared up at the ceiling, covered by a blanket of darkness from the night.

I'd had the dream—no, the vision—again. The one of Maka's death. The very same one I'd attempted to prevent from coming true by bringing her here to my base. I started to rethink the dream again, wondering about the events and why they'd play out that way.

I knew that this was most likely how Maka would've died. But everything about the funeral and meeting Maka's half-sister was fiction. Kami didn't have another child while she was with Spirit. She'd had a miscarriage when she and Spirit had tried for another child, but nothing other than that.

A man moaned next to me in the bed and strong arms wrapped around me. One slid under my neck and the other rested loosely over my shoulders. Almost immediately after, my tense muscles relaxed and I sighed. My lips curled into a small smile and my head rolled to the side, facing away from the man next to me. I gazed around the room, which was still pitch-black to match the ceiling and the lightless predawn morning.

The arm that had slung itself over my shoulder moved so that the palm of the hand rested over my collarbone.

"What is it?" I whispered to the man.

When he hummed, I felt the vibrations of his deep voice through the sheets. "I want you to stop freaking out," he whispered back, his breath disturbing my one lock of white hair. "When the visions come, just ignore them and go back to bed. Once you stop getting them, you can send Mary home. Simple."

"No, it's not that I'm worried about the visions exactly," I replied, sitting up and letting the blanket fall. The hand that'd been resting on me fell to the sheet covering my thigh.

The man sighed. "Then what _are_ you so worried about?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow and making the bed creak. "I get that you feel guilty for keeping her here for so long and all, but it's this or she dies. Don't let the guilt give you gray hairs, okay love?"

I nodded, though I knew he couldn't see it. "Okay," I whispered.

"Good," he mumbled sleepily. "Now can we go back to bed? I've got sparring sessions scheduled in a couple hours and I want as much rest as possible."

At this I smirked. "Oh, you thought I was going to let you sleep?" I asked innocently, turning to look over his form.

"Go. To. Sleep," he demanded, his fingers curling to grip my leg in warning. Knowing that when I didn't sleep, he didn't sleep, he might've been ready to pin me down and tie me up in the blankets until I slept. I shook my head and snapped my fingers, making the lights flare on.

The man groaned and sat up, blinking sleepily and trying to adjust to the light. He ran a hand through his silvery hair, the muscles in his arm rippling slightly from the action. My eyes followed his jawline as he yawned, landing on the scar over his left eye. My heart fluttered slightly as I remembered the suffering he'd gone through when receiving the wound.

He turned to me and looked me up and down before turning completely red. His black eyes widened and his jaw dropped, exposing the two fang-like canines on his top set of teeth, almost like vampire fangs. His face was so red, the crimson triangular tattoos on his cheeks seemed to be duller than usual.

"P-put something on before someone walks in," he hissed. I looked down at myself to see my lacy blue bra and gray shorts. I gave my bare skin a quick once-over before turning back to him, staring at his exposed chest.

"No, I'm fine like this," I responded smugly. "And you might want to take your own advice, Mr. Star-Boxers."

He yanked the sheets up to cover himself.

"J-just go to bed!" he shouted.

~Ari's Point of View~

I woke to the sound of the bell screeching the usual morning wake-up call. I shot out from under the blankets and ran around the military-style bed to get to the trunk at its foot. The warm, tropical air felt nice on my chest and against my legs, which were bare save for the upper part of my thighs that were covered by pajama shorts.

After opening the lock on the trunk and throwing open the wooden top, I snatched up my usual gray muscle shirt, camouflage cargo pants, and black combat boots.

As I began to throw on the pants, a moan came from the bed across mine.

"Why can't that bell ring in at eight instead of at four-thirty?" Mary grumbled from under her covers as I snapped my fingers to activate the lights. The lightbulbs reacted immediately, filling the room with light so bright that Mary groaned rather loudly.

"Because we have training to do," I snapped impatiently. "After three weeks, I'd have thought you would be used to it. Now get your ass out of bed and get dressed."

Mary sighed and sat on the edge of her bed, pausing to stretch as I shrugged on my tightly fitted shirt. As usual, she wasn't wearing anything but shorts. She'd made it a habit to wear as little as she could during the night, due to the excessively hot weather. I guessed that, since she'd been with us for so long and she didn't have her memories, she wasn't used to being in the hot desert sun anymore.

She'd started this habit of wearing small articles of clothing on her second official day of training. This was when she'd _really_ started to be bothered by the heat. She also experimented with what outfit was best for training in the sun. Mary had sampled sleeveless shirts, shorts, tank tops, sweat pants, track suits, and even just a sports bra with shorts until she simply started using Cordelia's outfit: gauze wrapped tightly around the breasts with loose, Arabian-style beige pants.

As I tucked my shirt into my pants, Mary got her gauze out from the trunk at the foot of her own bed and began to wrap her chest. She didn't do it quickly and nervously, like she used to when she was uncomfortable with a guy seeing her practically naked. But that was before I told her that I knew the human body inside and out, so that there was nothing about females I didn't know already. After that, her discomfort with being as exposed as she was in the mornings and at night slowly melted away. A sibling-like trust between us grew in its place.

We'd also been partnered together, if only because I knew that Maka had worked with other people a lot, including linking souls with other meisters and the occasional use of a weapon other than Soul during emergencies. Cordelia seemed to want to keep this up so that Mary could easily learn to analyze an opponent's fighting pattern, all while having someone to watch your back to avoid fatal injury.

Mary, however, not only needed to learn to work with new people but to work alone as well. I tutored her and trained her to work alone a few days a week, but she still did a vast number of things without me in an effort to gain some independence. She sparred with some of Cordelia's soldiers and other subordinates and she did the difficult chores whenever she could. It seems to me that Mary, though she didn't know who she was, still had Maka's confidence and constant drive to improve. This eased my worries about when the day came for Mary to become Maka once again.

I knew that Maka—the new Maka—would be more like a Maka two-point-oh. She'd be more athletic, stronger, more feminine, smarter, more amiable, willing to work with others, and more capable of further improvement.

I slipped on my socks and boots. As I began to do up the laces, Mary spoke.

"So I heard that somebody semi-important is coming to base today?" she asked.

I looked up at her in surprise. She wasn't supposed to know about that yet. Nobody had briefed her. I knew that because I was supposed to be the one doing the briefing.

Mary rolled her eyes at me. "What, did you think I wouldn't hear about it?" she asked. "There's something like a hundred agents here, plus Cordelia's whole army, _and_ the staff. Who all gossip like teenage girls, by the way. It's difficult not to know."

I sighed and shook my head, a smile on my lips. "I suppose so," I replied. "Anyways, I was going to brief you about it after breakfast."

Mary laughed. "Why so late?" she asked. "Is this another one of those things that I'm supposed to plan at the very last minute?"

"Um…maybe…" I mumbled, unhappy that she'd figured it out already.

She laughed. "Well, can you brief me now?" she asked, pausing to pull her pants on. "I mean, I already know about it so…"

"If I _must_," I sighed dramatically, making Mary giggle.

"There's a man coming," I continued. "His name is Dylan, but we're supposed to address him as Mr. Doughty. That's not what he usually goes by, but we're not allowed to call him anything else, per Master Cordelia's orders." I stopped, yanking the laces on my boots to tighten the shoes. "He'll be here for a few days and he's going to be helping with your training while Master runs a few exams for those other apprentices that came in last week for physical testing."

I saw Mary nod out of the corner of my eye as she began to braid her hair, which had grown at the unnaturally quick pace that only Master Cordelia seemed able to trigger. It was already past her mid back and took several minutes to properly braid.

I took a seat on the bed before finishing. "You'll be meeting him just before lunch and you're supposed to guard him and guide him around base for the length of his stay. Got it?"

Mary tied off her braid and sat down on her own bed. "So I'm going to be babysitting my tutor?" she asked.

I chuckled and nodded. "Pretty much."

**Haru: Yes, it's short. Deal with it.**

**Soul: …I still hate you…so, so much…**

**Haru: *sigh* Shut up, Soul. I'm trying to get more chapters out as fast as I can so you and your girlfriend can be reunited soon.**

**Soul: Oh, well then I guess I should apologize for—WAIT, SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!**

**Haru: If you say so.**

**Soul: …**

**Haru: …**

**Soul: …**

**Haru: OH, OH, OH, I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING!**

**Soul: *nervous* Ya?**

**Haru: What if Maka—I mean Mary—dies before she can get home?**

**Soul: YOU WOULDN'T DARE!**

**Haru: *giggles* Maybe I should…**

**Soul: *roars and transforms arm into scythe blade* COME HERE YOU LITTLE—**

**Liz: *shoots Soul with Patty* Shut up already, lover-boy.**


	12. What Happens Next

**Tsubaki: Lord Haru, could you tell us what happens now?**

**Haru: Of course, Tsubaki!**

**Soul: WHY DO YOU LISEN TO HER AND NOT ME?!**

**Haru: *throws encyclopedia at Soul* BECAUSE SHE'S POLITE AND CALLS ME "LORD HARU" LIKE YOU WERE ALL TOLD TO!**

~Black*Star's Point of View~

Soul was depressed.

There was no other way to put it. He had been like that since Raven took Maka. We only found out about Maka's condition and what Raven was "obligated" to do to people with Grigori souls a day or two after she'd left. Soul had gone to Kid, puffy eyed, and weakly asked to call us all together. Even got Blair, who'd been taking a vacation (aka a trip with a tom cat named Tabitha) in the Bahamas, got the message to come back to Death City.

When we were all seated in a conference room in the school, Soul told us everything. He told us who Raven was, the organization she belonged to. He explained about the Angels' need for those with Grigori souls. He told us about Ari, the boy who'd arrived with Raven, and how Maka might possibly come back to them, but that Soul didn't want anyone to get their hopes up, which is when he put his head on the table and stopped speaking.

And now he was mopey and sad all the time, he kept his head down at lunch, he never went out with us anymore, and it looked as if he barely ate or slept. What he _did_ do was study. He studied and read books and did chores. He became top of the class. It really surprised everyone that the class slacker suddenly was getting hundreds on his tests.

But it was understandable. He was trying to accomplish what Maka couldn't. At least, she couldn't anymore. He was trying to enjoy what Maka had loved to do, though I suspected it only made him feel worse.

And I would've imagined he already felt terrible. He hadn't been able to protect Maka when she'd needed him, and as a weapon it was probably eating him up inside.

But Maka wasn't coming back to him, and even a god like me couldn't change that. Raven had vanished without a trace, so we couldn't find her. My godly powers able to track her either.

~Kid's Point of View~

I was infuriated when Soul told us that Maka was gone. Why hadn't I been notified? Why didn't they tell me beforehand? Maybe I could have negotiated something with Raven. Maybe then, Maka would still be with us.

But more than anger, I felt sadness. Maka and I had been quite close. We discussed books and politics, we devised plans together, and sometimes we'd just talk. She helped me the most with my father's death, aside from Liz and Patty. Maka had been a welcome distraction from pain.

What would I do with her gone? In truth, Soul had it much worse. I couldn't help him, because I missed her too, but I didn't feel nearly as terrible. She wasn't my partner, wasn't the one who knew me better than I knew myself. That was what she was to Soul, and hopefully what he'd been to her.

~Dylan's Point of View~

I stood in the doorway to Ari and Maka's—no, Mary's—bedroom, watching as the girl gulped down anti-venom after anti-venom as Ari slathered an herbal cream on various spider and snake bites all over her person. When he was done, she flopped down onto her bed and he began to wrap to cream-covered areas with bandages.

"I _told_ you not to do any training sessions in the pit," Ari scolded her.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that the pit was full of poisonous—ow!" she shouted as the boy injected something into her arm.

Ari chuckled. "Sorry, Mary," he said.

She snorted. "You better be," she grumbled.

"You know," I chimed in, "if you'd have allowed me to take you to the music room for another harp lesson, this wouldn't be happening."

Mary turned her head sharply to glare at me. "I don't need another harp lesson," she growled. "I already know how to play it, Dylan."

I smiled in amusement. Every time I was at the camp, whenever Mary started to say things like this, I knew I'd be allowed to go home to my wife and son soon. I was here to teach Mary music, as it turned out. I wouldn't be able to see my brothers and sister until Mary was back in Death City, apparently. So I'd usually stay for a week at a time, which was about how long it took for Mary to master a new instrument.

When Cordelia no longer saw me of use in terms of helping Mary play the instrument, I was taken home.

"Alright, Mary," I replied, still smiling. "I'll just go tell Cordelia that so I can go home."

"Bye, Dylan!" she said enthusiastically, waving happily until Ari tied the wrapping a little too tightly. "What the hell, Ari?!" she shouted as I left the room, laughing.

**Haru: OK, yes, this one was short too. You all still need to deal with it.**

**Soul: I'm depressed now?! Seriously, Haru?!**

**Haru: *throws another encyclopedia at Soul* Until the next chapter, my lovely readers!**


	13. Reunion

**Haru: Meisters and weapons of the fandom, I give you the newest chapter!**

~Soul's Point of View~

Six months after I'd lost my best friend, I got a phone call. Phone calls weren't rare, as of the past few months. It was always either one of the other Spartoi members calling to see if I was eating, or one of the teachers inquiring about my health. There was an occasional classmate calling to see if they could borrow notes, or a lovestruck girl who was willing to dump their current weapons to partner with me. Once I'd even had a weapon calling to say that she'd become a meister for me.

Most days I didn't care much about the calls, but today I'd had an especially long therapy session with Marie, which Stein had insisted I attend ever week, and I was tired. So on top of the chores and homework I had to do, now there were people breaking the concentration I'd placed on cleaning the dust coating the living room floor.

I sighed loudly as the phone began shrieking from the kitchen. I grumbled and dropped the broom on the floor, disturbing the pile of dust bunnies I'd collected from under the couch. I trudged over to where the phone was hanging on the kitchen wall.

"Albarn-Evans residence," I said robotically into the phone, not in the mood to put any effort into being polite or sounding happy. "Who is this?"

I was given a low grumble as a response. "Soul," said a soft voice. It was a bit lower in pitch, a man's voice, and it was somewhat familiar. Though trying to place a name and face with the voice was like trying to remember the lyrics to a song you hadn't heard in years. The fingers on my free hand tangled themselves in the phone's thick, spiral wire.

"Soul it's…" the voice trailed off. The man sounded like he was trying not to cry.

For a while I didn't hear any sound, and as I opened my mouth to ask if they were still there, the voice spoke again.

"Soul it's…it's your father," the man finally choked out.

My mouth dropped and my hand tightened on the phone. The fingers that'd been twirling the wire froze.

"I…You don't need to say anything, Soul," Dylan said softly, voice cracking. "I know you left because of m—me and your mother, but please don't hang up…I just need you to hear me out."

I somehow got my lungs to start working and I took a deep breath, relaxing my tense muscles.

"Okay…but…be quick," I hissed, a little short of breath.

Dylan took a deep breath and began speaking. "I've been wanting to…apologize ever since I figured out that you left because of us," he began, speaking gently. "It's just that I never knew how to, exactly."

I nodded slowly. "And I'm assuming that you want to do that now?" I asked.

"Exactly," Dylan whispered. "I think I can make it up to you."

I raised an eyebrow at the kitchen wall and scoffed in disbelief. "Ya, _sure_ you can," I growled.

"Soul, I—"

"Save it," I grumbled. "Just save it. I can't deal with this."

"Soul, wait!" he shouted through the phone just as I was about to slam in back into its spot on the wall. I slowly brought it back up to my ear.

"I really can't deal with this right now," I whispered, feeling the energy draining out of my body. "I just don't think I can start being your son again…"

Dylan took a deep breath, the sound echoing in my ear. "Soul, I can help," he said calmly. "I can help you with Maka."

My breath hitched in my throat at the sound of her name. "H-how did you know about her?" I asked, feeling panic rising. "We didn't even tell the press. How did you…"

"Soul, just come to the house," he pleaded. My mouth opened, but my reply died on my tongue. "Just come and I'll explain, ok?"

"I…I don't think I can deal with you right now," I repeated.

"Soul, you don't need to deal with us," he said softly. "You could ignore us the whole time you're here, but you need to come. Please, I need you to be here."

I sighed. "Just…" My voice trailed off, and after a few moments of consideration, I spoke again. "Fine, but stay out of my personal space."

I stood by the tall black gate, looking through the bars at the three story mansion. It was the same as it had been when I'd left. Great white columns, a garden fit for royalty, and elegant red curtains shielding the many parlors and bedrooms from the sunlight behind the glass windows.

I sighed, not relishing the idea of being back. Not only was my family inside that mansion, but I had too many questions swirling in my mind.

How did my father know about Maka when her "disappearance" was being kept top secret? The students had all been asked to keep it a secret as well. Why was Dylan so quiet for the entire phone call when he should've been shouting like he usually did when he was trying to get what he wanted? How in the world did he think he could make up for all the shit he and Scarlet had put me through?

_Time to find out_, I thought.

I took a small step past the family's head maid, Janet, into the mansion's main foyer. The thick Persian carpet felt familiar under my sneakers. I looked up to find a grand crystal chandelier that I'd never seen before hanging from the ceiling. It threw small rainbows out in multiple directions. I was greeted by the scent of multiple pastries cooking in the kitchen at the other end of the house, bringing with it a sense of nostalgia.

It took a grand total of ten seconds before I heard the ticking of high heels running on the marble floors of the living room to my left. The clunking of thick dress shoes rushing down steps from some other room to my right, that had also not been there before, assaulted my ears.

Janet sighed from behind me. "Soul, my boy, your parents seem to think you're the cab driver," she informed me apologetically.

"What?" I asked, the footsteps growing louder.

"Your father has been…leaving home very frequently as of the past few months," she explained quietly.

A crash from my right sounded. "Oh?"

"Yes. Though none of us really know why." She whispered the last part. "We know they definitely aren't business trips for the recording company. They're too frequent."

I whipped around to face Janet, fear growing in me as an image of Spirit with a drunken woman turned to one of my _father_ with a drunken woman.

"You don't think he's skipping town for another _person_…do you?" I whispered in disbelief. My father may not have been the gentlest of people, but he was faithful to my mother. At least, he _had _been before I'd left.

Janet looked at me sadly, but before she could so much as open her mouth to reply, my mother, in all her curly-brown-haired glory, burst from the living room on my left. She stopped, glaring at the door parallel to hers as she panted, holding onto the doorframe next to her for support. She wore a navy dress, tightly fitted on top but loose from the waist down to where it stopped at her ankles. She wore black stilettos and a thick golden chain hung around her neck. Her engagement ring sparkled on her finger.

She hadn't noticed me yet, which I was thankful for. Janet stood quietly at my side, looking at Scarlet in concern. Not a moment later, the clunking of the dress shoes eased into a steady tapping and the door across from the one my mother had emerged from sung open.

In the doorway stood my father, his gray suit wrinkled from running. His black tie swung loosely around his neck as he stared at my mother in surprise. Dylan's hair was slicked back elegantly, as it had been every day for as long as I could remember. Though, the years of stress from running a company, being a musician, and holding his family together had taken their toll. His hair, which used to be pitch black, had thin bits of gray mixed in here and there.

My mother was the first to speak.

"Take one more step towards that door, Dylan and I swear I will leave you," she growled menacingly.

Janet inhaled sharply through her nose, though the sound was so quiet that it didn't even echo in the large foyer. The only reason I heard it was because she grabbed onto my arm, her face pressed against my bicep in alarm.

Dylan sighed sadly, his form slumping tiredly. "For the _last time_, Scarlet," he said quietly, "I'm not cheating on you."

Scarlet snorted, surprising me. My mother hadn't been one to talk back much before. Though, now that I thought about it, I never really knew her too well to see her she talk back in the first place.

"Then why do you leave so often?" she hissed. "And to visit a very _young woman_, no less."

Dylan sighed again as Janet's grip on my arm tightened. "Scarlet, she's married and has children," he replied, desperation beginning to bleed into his voice. "She tells her husband she loves him in front of me. They play with their kids while I sit at a desk and go through paper work. I sleep in a cot in the same room as her staff at night. Even if I really wanted to, if I tried to make any kind of move on her—"

"You sleep in a cot now?" I asked loudly with a raised eyebrow. My parents froze. Janet dropped my arm and stepped back hastily.

My mother turned her head slowly and inhaled sharply as she saw me. I tried for a small smile, which caused Scarlet to make a choking sound. Dylan gazed over at me happily and took a step towards me. My mother suddenly surged forward, trying to beat him to me, I guessed. I opened my arms as an invitation for a hug and she gladly accepted, ramming into my chest with tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Six months ago, I wouldn't have even considered thinking about being kind or warm to my parents. But I then lost Maka. My friends' presence only made me more aware that she was gone, though it made me guilty to think of them like that.

But my family didn't remind me of her. They reminded me of times when I was a child, when sunny days could easily become dark. However, they were not as dark as the days I missed Maka the most. Plus my dad genuinely seemed to want to apologize. My mother had started to sob in my arms, so that meant she'd missed me too.

My father moved briskly towards us, trying to walk quickly but not wanting to run. When he did reach us, he stopped and smiled, ruffling my hair. Then he threw his arms around us, sandwiching my mother in between.

Dylan had obviously been trying not to show too much affection, whether it was for fear of being seen as weak by his maids or discomfort showing his love in more crowded areas, I wouldn't know. But when he held us, he squeezed tightly, as if we might disappear if he loosened his grip.

I wasn't sure how long we'd stayed like that, but it was long enough for Wes, who'd been home in the middle of the day instead of working or whatever, to become concerned at the lack of noise. I heard his bare feet smacking the cold tile floors as he rushed down the stairs to the foyer.

"Mom, Dad, are you—"

I glanced over Dylan's shoulder to find Wes staring at us in confusion, which turned to realization. He walked towards us slowly, unsure and nervous. He stepped around Dylan to see if I was really there. As soon as he saw me, he thrust his arm between me and my parents, prying them off me only to throw himself back into my arms.

I inhaled his cologne, a familiar and comforting scent, slowly. I felt like a child again, being held by my big brother until I stopped crying. Not that I was crying right now, of course.

"I missed you so much, Soul," he whispered over and over in my ear. He started to pet my hair slowly, like Maka did when I was upset but wouldn't show it. The memory hurt worse than the wound Crona had given me back in the church two years ago. My breath audibly hitched in my throat and tears prickled my eyes. My knees buckled, but Wes caught me and we sank to the floor together.

"Soul, how come you came home?" Wes asked as I plopped down on his bed. The mattress sank under my weight as I kicked off my shoes and fell back against the covers.

"Dylan called," I muttered, happily lazing about on the bed.

"He did?" Wes asked in surprise. "Our dad?"

"Yup," I replied. "Called my apartment the other day. Said something about being able to apologize by doing something for me."

Wes fell next to me on the bed. "Wait, seriously?" he asked. "How on earth does he plan to do that?"

I shrugged.

Suddenly, the door burst open, banging against the wall as it did. The noise triggered a reflex I'd developed after I partnered with Maka: I hopped up off the bed as my arm transformed into a blade and took a stance. The girl standing in front of the blade's tip shrieked and fell backwards. I looked down at her to see that she was shaking and panting. Her eyes, hazel irises illuminated with fear, were flickering around skittishly.

I'd sent her into shock. Joy.

"Um, sorry," I mumbled, transforming my arm back to flesh and bone. I offered my hand to help her off the floor as Wes got up and stood next to me. She shrunk away from my hand, but reached for Wes. He ignored her completely.

"Hey," he nodded to the girl, a frown on his face.

"Wessy," she whispered, "I wanted to—"

"No, actually," Wes interrupted, his frown turning to a scowl, "I think you were just leaving."

The girl's mouth opened and closed again. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"Wes, I'm pretty sure I sent her into shock," I said. "Nothing you say is going to process I her head for a while. It's all in one ear and out the other."

Wes glared down at the girl in response.

Her jeans were a little grimy and had paint marks while her shirt had an old coffee stain on the side. Her socks were black, but I could _still_ see the dirt on them. Her shoes were heavily coated in mud and dust as well. I wondered who had let this girl, with dirty clothes, messy hair, and no makeup on her face, into the mansion.

Hell, how'd she get into the _neighborhood_?

And who was she? How did she know Wes? How well did she know him that he'd actually let her call him "Wessy"? The nickname itself was enough to make me gag, not to mention her scent.

"Who is this, Wes?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

My brother shook his head. "Just an ex girlfriend," he replied casually, though he was still glaring at the girl on the floor. Tears began to fall from her eyes. "She was after the family's money."

"Wessy," she gasped out between small sobs, "I swear I—"

"Save it," Wes snarled as he reached for a small red button next to a speaker in the wall. He pressed it and a buzz sounded. "Send up security, please," he said into the speaker. "I have an unwanted guest."

He removed his fingers from the button and moments later, three men in suits, dark glasses, and thick black gloves came marching to the door. Guns were strapped into their belts, tasers and pepper spray hung in a separate pocket. They hoisted the girl to her feet and dragged her away.

"Do you think placing extra security around the house would be too much?" Scarlet asked Wes from across the coffee table that evening.

We'd just eaten dinner and were relaxing in one of the mansion's many, many parlors. Wes was seated in a beige recliner, while Scarlet and I shared the maroon couch on the other side of an ornate coffee table. Dylan was standing by the pearly-white door, quietly discussing dessert with Janet.

"Sofia's just a girl, Mom," Wes replied. "And it's not as if she's really going to fight for me. She's just going to try to go after some other poor sap to steal his money."

"Poor _rich_ sap," I corrected.

"Indeed, my boy," Scarlet chuckled, taking a sip of coffee. "So, Soul…"

"Hm?" I reached for a mug of hot chocolate resting on a coaster.

"I think we were all wondering…" she paused, biting her lip. "We all would like to know why you came home."

I sighed, taking a sip from the mug. "I thought you guys wanted to apologize," I replied calmly. "That's what he said on the phone, anyways." I jerked my thumb back at Dylan, who had thanked Janet and was closing the door behind her.

Scarlet scowled over at him. "He didn't mention anything about an apology," she growled, swallowing more coffee. "Not that I wouldn't want to apologize," she added quickly. "But he didn't even tell me he had your phone number in the first place."

I raised an eyebrow at my mother in confusion, and looked over at Wes, who was just as confused and offered no answers.

"Who didn't tell who what?" Dylan asked as he flopped on the couch next to Scarlet, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

Her only response was a glare. "I'd thank you to share important things with me from now on," she hissed. "Things like my son's phone number."

Dylan laughed nervously. "Oh, that! I wanted it to be a surprise..." His voice trailed off as Scarlet's glare continued to become more menacing.

The door creaked open.

Scarlet's head snapped in the direction of the noise, ready to take out her rage on whoever was the next person to speak, but she stopped. A look of confusion crossed her face, whereas Dylan's had paled. I looked over to the entryway to find none other than Raven.

She was dressed in a military uniform, camouflage shirt and pants with brown combat boots. With this attire, one would've expected her to look calm and stoic.

But instead, she was red-faced with anger as she glared at my father.

**Soul: Why would you…?**

**Haru: Why would I what, Soul?**

**Soul: Why did you send me home?**

**Wes: What's wrong with home?**


	14. The Angels and the Evans

**Haru: Ok readers! So, I gave you a sneak peek at this chapter a little while ago, but as I finished writing it, I decided it was horrible. I ended up scrapping the whole thing and starting over. So I apologize for the wait. Anyways, enjoy!**

~Blair's Point of View~

Soul's phone buzzed for the first time since that morning. He'd been texting his brother, who he never told me existed until today, since eleven-thirty. After about an hour or two, he dropped his phone on the couch and went to shower. Now, there it was, buzzing away and just within reach.

Curiosity was beginning to get the better of me and I reached for the small black iPhone. Soul wouldn't mind if I looked at his texts…

I typed in the password, which wasn't anything like "I'm the coolest", though that was usually what his friends assumed. It was actually Maka's favorite color: cardinal-red.

The lock screen disappeared and I tapped the Messages app to open it. Soul and Wes's texts were already open so I scrolled up to where they'd started texting that morning.

**Today** 11:27 AM

_Wes: So, Dad came home just now._

_Soul: Good to know._

_Wes: UUUUGH he and Mom are yelling again_

_Soul: Isn't that normal?_

_Soul: Cue they did that when I came over last week._

_Soul *Cuz_

_Soul: Freaking autocorrect_

_Wes: Lol ya it's pretty normal _

_Wes: Mom is convinced Dad is cheating on her because he's always at this military camp thing that Cordelia (or Raven, whatever her name is) runs. _

_Wes: He leaves for a week or two at a time, and then he comes home for another week, and then he disappears again._

_Soul: Really?_

_Wes: No, Soul. I'm kidding. He goes to the moon every week. _

_Soul: Is the sarcasm really necessary?_

_Wes: IT IS WHEN MOM AND DAD ARE YELLING DOWN THE HALL_

_Soul: That sucks_

_Wes: I normally don't curse but _

_Wes: No freaking shit, Sherlock_

_Soul: Lol sorry_

_Soul: But Raven really isn't that bad. _

_Soul: According to her student, Ari, she's really nice._

_Soul: And I think she has kids too._

_Soul: She wouldn't be cheating in front of them, I don't think_

_Soul: Plus, she has my partner_

_Soul: And I think Maka might notice something like this and put a stop to it_

_Soul: Her parents divorced because her dad was cheating. Which, according to Raven, wasn't even his fault but idk_

_Wes: Well then…_

_Soul: It's all pretty crazy._

_Wes: Hang on a sec_

_Wes: They're saying something interesting_

_Soul: Oooh what is it?_

_Wes: Stop texting for a minute so I can hear it_

_Soul: Ok_

**Today **11:50 AM

_Wes: Ok, here's what I know: Dad apparently has 11 brother and a sister somewhere. He left them when he was about 11, and now his sister is in charge of the military Cordelia works for. Their group is called the Angels or something._

_Soul: 12 siblings is too many_

_Wes: Way too many_

_Soul: And it looks like the running-away-from-home-at-11 runs in the family._

_Wes: So it seems_

_Soul: So, we're related to witches?_

_Wes: Witches?_

_Soul: The Angels are a group of witches. _

_Soul: Raven and her teammates are members_

_Wes: Wait, seriously?_

_Soul: Ya. Cordelia has Maka too._

_Wes: Couldn't you ask them to give her back then?_

_Soul: I don't think that's how it works. _

_Wes: Why not? You're family!_

_Soul: That never stopped Dylan from telling us any of this before in the first place._

_Wes: Very true…_

_Soul: But at least this explains the albinism_

_Wes: Witches, though?_

_Soul: Ya_

_Wes: I can't seem to wrap my head around it_

_Soul: You and me both_

_Wes: They're yelling again. Text you later when I know more._

_Soul: Sure_

I assumed that this was where Soul had dropped his phone to shower. However, new texts were beginning to pop up at the bottom of the screen. I really shouldn't have read them…but Soul wasn't out of the shower yet…

**Today** 12: 07

_Wes: Soul_

_Wes: You can't tell anyone we're related to the Angels_

_Wes: Dad never told us because apparently this could get us killed. _

_Wes: Well, not you. They wouldn't hurt a Death Scythe_

_Wes: But according to the law the witches follow, there's a certain procedure to be followed when you get married_

_Wes: Mom and Dad never did it_

_Wes: So the witches don't think they're legally married_

_Wes: As far as they're concerned, we're bastard children_

_Wes: They might try to kill me and Mom_

_Wes: Soul, I'm freaking out here_

_Wes: Soul, you've gotta find a way to help us!_

"Blair," Soul's voice growled from behind me. I stopped, my fur standing on end. A hand snatched the phone away and I heard Soul's receding footsteps heading for his room.

~Soul's Point of View~

I threw on a shirt and threw my towel into the laundry bin, glancing at my phone as it buzzed away on my bed. I sighed and shook my head, wondering why Wes was bothering me so much. I ran a hand through my damp hair and grabbed my phone, flopping back on my mattress.

I swiped my finger across the text notification and typed in "cardinal-red". I sighed as I eyed the many, _many_ texts Wes had sent. I scrolled up to the top and began reading.

_Wes: Soul, you've got to find a way to help us!_

_Wes: Soul, they're going to kill us_

_Wes: What do I do?_

_Wes: You've dealt with witches before, right?_

_Wes: How do I stop them from coming to get us, Soul?_

I sighed as another message about runes or something popped up. It was just like Wes to be so paranoid. I shook my head and started typing…

_Wes: Because I think I saw a book on runes in the library once._

_Soul: Wes, calm down_

_Soul: The Angels aren't going to hurt you. They've left you alone for this long_

_Soul: And when Raven showed up at the house last week, she just grabbed Dylan and walked out_

_Soul: She totally ignored the rest of us_

_Wes: I guess so…_

_Soul: Good_

_Soul: Now stop freaking out and leave me in peace_

_Soul: I have homework to finish_

_Wes: You have homework? Since when?!_

_Soul: Since I started going to school, genius_

_Soul: Bye_

_Wes: Bye_

**Haru: So, as you've probably noticed by now, I decided to write the majority of this chapter in a different format. **

**Soul: So I text now?**

**Haru: What's wrong with texting?**

**Soul: Nothing, just…I text? On an iPhone?**

**Haru: Yes, get over it.**


	15. At Last

**Haru: Ok, my lovely meisters and weapons! New chapter!**

**Soul: Can I see my partner now?**

**Haru: Actually…**

**Soul: Another useless chapter?!**

**Haru: Shut up and read, moron. *whacks Soul with a stick***

~Soul's Point of View~

"Ok, thanks for the food, Tsubaki," I called as I shoved her and Black*Star out of my apartment door. "See you at school tomorrow!"

I shut the door behind them, breathing out a sigh of relief. I heard Black*Star shout something as he was dragged away from my door, but ignored it so that I could put away the many dishes Tsubaki had prepared for me. There was breaded panko chicken, truffle mac n' cheese, green beans with parmesan, a few rolls of sushi, and half a cheesecake.

The food was still warm, so I placed the cake in the fridge and grabbed a plate from the cabinet. I put a few spoonfuls of the mac n' cheese on it, as well as a few pieces of chicken. As an afterthought, I also piled some green beans onto the plate. The food was all very filling, probably full of calories, and quite delicious.

Once I'd finished, I scarfed down a slice of cheesecake and set to washing the dirty dishes. There was a pile of them, as well as used glasses, waiting for me in the sink. I considered calling Blair over to help me wash them, but then I remembered that she still wasn't home from her shift at Chuppa Cabra's. Actually, she probably wouldn't be home until around midnight. I sighed as I scrubbed dried orange juice from a glass cup.

As I placed the last dish onto a drying rack, a knock sounded at the door.

_It's probably Black*Star and Tsubaki again_, I groaned inwardly as I walked over to the entrance to the apartment. Another knock sounded as I grabbed the door handle.

I shoved open the door, rubbing my eye in irritation. "Black*Star, for the last time, I—"

Raven smiled down at me and chuckled.

"Hello to you too, Soul," she said. My jaw dropped in surprise and embarrassment. Hadn't expected _her_ to be standing there.

"Um, I, uh…hi…" I murmured. Raven shook her head at me in amusement. "Um, h-how are you?"

"I'm good, Soul," the witch replied.

I shook my head a bit, trying to snap myself out of my surprised state. "Um, Raven, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, Soul, I have a surprise for you." A sweet smile graced the witch's lips, lighting up her eyes. They were black today instead of gold, for whatever reason.

My eyes widened. Wes's texts from the other day popped into my mind. Did Raven do to something to my mom and brother? Was she really going to hurt them just because my parents weren't legally married under the law of witches?

Or did this have something to do with Maka?

"Well, please, come in," I said, stepping aside so that she could get inside.

"Thank you," she said as she walked in.

I shut the door behind her. The witch stood in the entryway, gazing around the apartment curiously.

"This looks a lot like my brother's old dorm," she commented. "Is this a school-issued apartment?"

I shook my head. "No. It belonged to Kami before she left," I explained. "I moved in once Maka and I became partners."

Raven nodded thoughtfully. "Right…of course," she mumbled, gazing at the living room. "Where did Kami go, anyways?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, nobody really knows," I answered. "She left in the middle of the night. She used to send Maka post cards every time she went somewhere new. We stopped getting them about a week before Asura was released."

Raven sighed, nodding slowly. Then she perked up and smiled at me.

"Kami's loss," she said with a shrug. "Maka is turning into a brilliant young woman."

I looked to the floor, thinking of my partner. Maybe I could ask how she was doing? No…I probably wouldn't get much of an answer. My chest tightened a little as I thought of Maka laughing. That sound had always been something I thought of when I was unhappy. Normally, it would've cheered me up, but as of the past few months, it just made me sad.

"About Maka," the witch continued. "I wanted to—"

I glared at Raven. "You already took her from me," I growled. "What else could you possibly want?"

The witch shook her head in amusement. "Sorry, let me clarify," she said. "I just…" She stopped and a thoughtful look crossed her face. Then she smiled again. "Maybe it'll be easier if I just showed you."

"Hold on, show me what?" I asked as the witch walked over to the door.

"Wait here," Raven ordered as she exited the apartment.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. The door shut behind the witch and the lock clicked into place.

I shrugged and went back to the kitchen to put away all the food I'd left out.

Once everything was neatly put away in the fridge, I decided to watch TV while I waited for Raven. I'd gotten through about two hours of making fun of the stupid character of reality shows before I heard a knock.

I turned off the TV and walked over to the door, sighing at the thought of the witch. But when I opened the door, I found someone other than Raven waiting for me.

Standing in the doorway, was Maka.

**Haru: CLIFF HANGERS BWAHAHAHAHAHA**

**Soul: Hang on, I'm still trying to process what just happened.**

**Maka: Ok, so we're done here?**

**Haru: You mean with the story? Oh no, Maka. This isn't the last chapter. **

**Maka: *sigh of relief***


	16. One Thing Led to Another

**Haru: Did that cliff hanger last chapter kill you? It would've killed me, that's for sure.**

**Soul: THEN WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO _US_?!**

**Haru: It keeps people interested. **

**Soul: You're cruel…**

**Haru: I know! *smiling happily* So anyways, there's a poll up on my profile and I'd appreciate if everyone took it. It's asking whether or not I should write the next half of the story (which has a bit of a different plot) as a sequel. I want to do the sequel, but if I get a certain number of votes to just continue, that's what I will so. I'll remind you again at the end of the chapter to go take it. Now, on with the story!**

~Maka's Point of View~

I glanced at Soul, who was sitting next to me on the couch and glaring determinedly at the action movie on TV. Ever since I'd come back from training with Raven/Cordelia, he'd been really clingy and overprotective. More than before, I mean. Though it was only natural, I suppose, given the situation.

Soul sighed and draped an arm over my shoulders to pull me closer as a bunch of men on the screen pulled out guns. He rested his head on my shoulder and lightly blew air on my neck, which he knew tickled. I began to giggle and squirm in Soul's grip as gunshots rang out from the TV. He continued to tickle me after quickly turning off the movie. His fingers skimmed over sensitive areas and he blew air over my neck and face. I squeaked and laughed and wiggled to try to get away. We rolled on to the floor, laughing, as he pinned me down with his arms.

"Give up yet?" he asked, affectionally nuzzling my neck.

"Never. Now it's my turn," I mumbled. He stiffened as my arms slid out from under his hands.

My fingers went under his shirt to tickle his sides. My partner erupted in laughter and fell to the side. I leaned over him and lightly kissed his neck, which I knew tickled him more than anything else.

"S-stop," he pleaded between fits of laughter. "I surrender!"

I laughed triumphantly. It didn't last too long, however. Soul was trying to get up just as I leaned down to hug him and then we somehow ended up in a kiss.

I was surprised at the contact at first, trying to move away and laugh it off in hopes that my blushing and utter joy from the kiss went unnoticed. Soul was a bit more bold with these things, however, and he gently nudged me back down. I leaned against him and he cradled me in his arms. His hand ran through my hair, undoing the long braid I'd put it in that morning.

Soul used his other hand to prop himself up into a sitting position. Since he wasn't exactly holding me, we got separated in the process. We looked at each other for a few seconds, letting the last few minutes process.

He looked a little confused, but I didn't know if that was good or bad. His soul was humming quite happily, though, so I tried for a small smile. A wide grin broke out on his face, and the relief showed in his posture. He laughed a bit and put a hand on my cheek.

"I love you," he said, causing something to jump inside me.

Time stopped for a moment and my Papa flashed through my mind. I'd seen him ruin a perfectly good marriage and partnership with my mother. That could happen to me and Soul, couldn't it? I mean, sure, Soul didn't seem like someone to cheat, but Mama had probably thought the same thing before my parents got married. Though Cordelia _had_ said that Papa had been cursed this whole time…

"Maka, what's wrong?" Soul asked, his voice breaking.

He knew what I was thinking of. My lack of trust (or almost any sort of liking, for that matter) in men had been a concern of his for a long time. He'd always been a little uneasy with the way I looked at the male gender and romantic relations with them. From time to time, he even joked that if I ever got married, it'd be to a woman instead.

"If you don't want this," Soul continued quietly after a moment, "then just say so and we can forget it ever happened."

I looked up at my partner in surprise. He looked pained to have said that, and his soul was heavy with dread.

"Soul, when I was—um, before Raven wiped my memory, when I was, uh, still unconscious," I stuttered, hoping I wasn't making too much of a fool of myself, "I had this…dream…" Soul nodded for me to continue, though he still looked concerned. "In the dream…uh, do you remember that one mission where we were in the Bahamas? It was a month or two before my birthday I think."

Soul nodded, smiling a little. "We went to the beach a bunch of times," he said fondly. "You kept wearing bikini tops and shorts because the bottoms were always annoying, for some reason."

I nodded and some of my nervousness disappeared. Soul was being very patient with me, as always, though he really had no idea where I was taking this.

"Right," I affirmed, nodding brightly. "Do you remember when I made that sand castle because you took my book away?" My partner nodded and chuckled, though his face was a little pink, for whatever reason.

"Well, that was the day I was dreaming about," I continued. "The dream was following what I remembered up until when I started showing off the castle. You saw me and looked a little shocked and your face was pretty pale. I thought you'd gotten sick or something so I checked your temperature. You didn't talk for a few minutes, so I asked if you were ok and then you…you asked if I loved you."

Soul's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Wait, what?" he asked, sounding a little alarmed.

I laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head with my hand.

"Unrealistic," I commented. "Totally unreal. So I sorta tried to figure out what to say but you just…kissed me." I fumbled with my hands for a moment. Soul was quiet. He knew I wasn't finished. "And I…actually liked it a lot more than I expected." I looked up at Soul and a wide smile had broken out over his face.

"So, no, I don't want to forget that I just kissed you," I told him sternly. "In fact, I want it to happen a whole lot more."

Soul laughed joyfully, a light rumble in his chest, and grabbed my waist. He pulled me forward and kissed me again, threading his fingers in my hair once more.

"Maka," he mumbled against my mouth. "That little scene was inside our soul resonance. It wasn't an actual dream."

I stiffened in surprise, my cheeks burning with the heat from a blush.

"Wait, what?!"

Soul nuzzled my neck lightly. "I saw the same thing," he murmured, his warm breath on my collar bone making me shiver. "It was…maybe a week after we got home from England."

"Then I'm not making a complete fool of myself by telling you all this?" I asked.

He shook his head and continued to run his fingers through my hair. "I like this," he said after a moment.

I leaned my cheek on his hair, taking in the subtle scent of his cologne. "I do too, Soul," I whispered. "I do too."

**Haru: So how did you guys like it? I know Soul had a grand time reading that!**

**Soul: *smiling and staring off into space***

**Maka: I think he enjoyed it a little _too_ much…**

**Haru: Probably. So anyways, *Soul getting Maka-chopped in background* I was going to remind you all to take the poll on my profile. Again, it's asking whether or not you guys think I should write the rest of Broken Soul as a sequel, since its plot is a little different. Now, if you'll excuse me, Maka and I need to get Soul to an E.R.**

**Kid: Will there be any more chapters?**

**Haru: Hmmm…well, I'm thinking of doing a few more chapters. If there's anything you guys want to see, feel free to P/M any suggestions to me or write it up in a review. Until the next chapter!**


End file.
